


너만이 (Only You)

by Sokobird_86



Category: ASTRO (Band)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Demons, First Kiss, Fluff, M/M, Magic, Magic Academy, Magic Guilds, Minor Kim Myungjun | MJ/Park Jinwoo | Jin Jin, Minor Lee Dongmin | Cha Eunwoo/Moon Bin, Monsters, Other Fandoms Not Mentioned in Tags, Protect Minhyuk at all costs, Protect Rocky Jr at all costs, Protect Sanha at all costs, Sad
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-19
Updated: 2021-03-10
Packaged: 2021-03-11 01:20:22
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 13
Words: 29,977
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28186782
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sokobird_86/pseuds/Sokobird_86
Summary: "You're an angel and I'm a demon...""We were never meant to be friends. I'm sorry Hyukkie."'Sanha...'
Relationships: Park Minhyuk | Rocky/Original Character(s), Park Minhyuk | Rocky/Yoon Sanha, Yoon Sanha/Original Character(s)
Comments: 5
Kudos: 22





	1. Losing You

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Magic in Aredrinnor](https://archiveofourown.org/works/18490072) by [Faeradam](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Faeradam/pseuds/Faeradam). 



> I was reading MiA one day, a story that had a LOT of ups and downs and also a lot of missing pieces a while back and got thinking, "what would happen if I took some of the events of this story and put them in a different perspective."
> 
> This is the result of that.
> 
> Enjoy!
> 
> (Oh and if you haven't read MiA, then I suggest doing that first because this won't make much sense otherwise)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Come on, Hyukkie! It’s the Circus! It’s not gonna be here forever!” Sanha shouts at Rocky as he’s pulling him (and in turn, Rocky Jr.) along behind himself.
> 
> Minhyuk smiles fondly at Sanha, but he’s too excited to notice. And even if he does notice, he doesn’t say anything which Minhyuk is grateful for.

“Come on, Hyukkie! It’s the _Circus!_ It’s not gonna be here forever! _”_ Sanha shouts at Rocky as he’s pulling him (and in turn, Rocky Jr.) along behind himself.

Minhyuk smiles fondly at Sanha, but he’s too excited to notice. And even if he does notice, he doesn’t say anything which Minhyuk is grateful for.

He laughs without a care in the world, “Slow down, Ddana! We have all day.”

“Papa! I can’t keep up!” Rocky Jr. shouts as he’s tripping over himself and his short, stubby legs.

Rocky pulls on Sanha _hard_ to get him to stop. It works, and Sanha suddenly whips his head around, alarmed.

“Rocky Jr. can’t keep up. You’re going too fast for him.”

Sanha’s gaze softens as he looks down at his favorite companion, “Oh, I’m so sorry little one. Forgive me?” he asks Rocky Jr. with a small pout.

Rocky Jr. nods his little head so fast, Minhyuk is worried he’ll nod it right off and he reaches up to Sanha to have himself be picked up.

Sanha does so happily and leaves a sloppy, wet kiss on his stony cheek. Minhyuk feels his own cheeks start to get warm and turns away with an embarrassed cough.

“Uhhh… Ddana, we should probably get going, right?”

Sanha nods, smiling at him before he gets this idea look on his face that Rocky… doesn’t really know what to make of.

He whispers to Rocky Jr. quietly enough that Minhyuk can’t really hear what they’re saying even though he wishes he could, but his curiosity is answered once his son nods once to Sanha and then starts to make himself small.

Rocky smiles in relief, knowing now they weren’t planning something evil against him. He loops his arm through Sanha’s, once Rocky Jr. is safely in his spot on top of his head, and they continue to walk to the ice cream stand.

Once the trio had their ice cream, and Rocky Jr had officially made a mess of his own special treat, they cleaned themselves up and went to watch the show.  
When the show was over, Minhyuk and Sanha went walking around town again and Sanha spotted a sign that said **Fortune Teller.**  
  
Minhyuk saw the second Sanha's eyes lit up at the sign and he jumped up excitedly "Oh, Hyukkie, can we go get our fortunes read?"  
  
"I... I don't know, Ddana." Rocky says apprehensively, "What if it's a scam?"  
  
"I've never had my fortune read professionally before and it seems like so much fun! PLEEEEASE Hyukkie?"  
  
Minhyuk sighs when Sanha gives him the biggest puppy-dog pout he possibly can in hopes that it will work on him. (It usually does.)  
  
When Sanha sees that he's won, he celebrates and cheers making Rocky Jr laugh joyfully at him while Rocky just pulls him towards the fortune teller.  
  
Soon enough their turn is up and Minhyuk goes first.  
  
"Hello boys, are you ready to have your fortunes read?" the old woman says as soon as the boys step up to sit at her table.  
  
They both nod and Minhyuk asks her what he should do first. She instructs him to place his hand palm up, out on the table in front of her. He does as she says, and she traces all of his lines before referencing her cards.   
  
After flipping a few of them over, she sighs, "Ahhhh... I see great fortune in your future. I advise you to keep focusing on your craft, boy. It will do you well."  
  
Minhyuk smiles, knowing she means his hobby of smithing he picked up in his second year of school.  
  
She turns to Sanha next and gestures for him to do the same. However, when she touched his hand, there was this strange sizzle and the smell of burning flesh. She pulled back immediately with a loud, creepy hiss. She was clutching her hand like he burned her, and yelled "Get out!"  
  
"I know what you are!" she continues to yell, "You need to get out of her before I report you to the King! You don't belong here."  
  
Minhyuk and Sanha's eyes are both wide in fear and shock. The fortune teller turns back to Rocky and warns him, "be careful around him, boy... he's not like you."  
  
Sanha bowed and apologized profusely as they got up from the table and walked away.  
  
When they were alone again, Minhyuk noticed that Sanha was out of it. He was walking like the living dead and had his eyes focused on the ground.  
  
"Hey Ddana..." he nudges Sanha's shoulder, "You okay?"  
  
Sanha looks up at Minhyuk and with a tight-lipped smile says, "yeah. I'm fine Hyukkie. Don't worry."  
  
Minhyuk doesn't believe him.

*

“You’re an angel and I’m a demon,” Minhyuk hears a voice whisper.

It sounds vaguely familiar to him, but there’s something off about it. It sounds sad.

“We were never meant to be friends. I’m sorry Hyukkie.”

‘What? What do you mean?’

He hears the voice get louder, closer as it says, “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry little one. I have to go. I have to do this. You’ll be okay without me. Just look after your father for me.”

‘Sanha?’ he thought, as he heard a small peck being given to what he assumed was Rocky Jr. in his arms.

He felt puffs of air on his eyelashes and nose and heard what he thought was Sanha whisper, “I’m sorry Hyukkie. Really sorry. I’m doing this for you. Look after our son. He needs you.”

“Sanha?” Minhyuk said, finally opening his eyes a sliver. He looked him over as best he could, given he was half asleep anyway. He noticed Sanha looked different. He almost looked a little taller than he remembered. His eyes looked pitch black, like they were all pupil, and he had these strange dark purple wings coming out of his back and claws coming out of his fingertips. “Sanha is that you?”

“Shhh… You’re dreaming, Hyukkie.”

Rocky grunted, mumbling “strange dream.”

He heard Sanha chuckle quietly, his voice full of sadness, “I know. I’m sorry you had to see me this way.”

Minhyuk felt something wet fall on his cheek as he closed his eyes again.

‘Wait, is he…crying?’

He heard Sanha hiccup quietly.

‘He must be.’

He wanted to console Sanha, to tell him whatever was bothering him could be taken care of. Minhyuk would handle it for him- or better yet, they could tackle it together, but his brain and tongue weren’t working together properly so the next thing that came out of his mouth was, “your tears are warm, Ddana.”

He heard Sanha sniffle before saying, “Bye Hyukkie. I’ll miss you.”

Minhyuk furrows his brow in confusion, ‘bye? No, don’t go!’

He grabs onto whatever part of Sanha he can reach (which just so happens to be his neck), holding him in place.

His eyes flutter open again as he asks, “This _is_ a dream… right?” He looked up at Sanha with a worry filled gaze. Sanha nods at him silently. A part of Minhyuk wonders why he didn’t say anything but the other part is relieved that he said yes and so he sighs, “good.”

Then, almost impulsively, Rocky pulls Sanha back down with all the sleepy strength he has and perhaps, fulfills a wish he kept hidden deep in his heart by brushing their lips together ever so gently. He lets go not even a second later and rolls over, pulling Rocky Jr in closer to his chest to cuddle. He exhales a breathy little “I love you, Ddana,” before he relaxes once again.

*

“-apa…” Minhyuk groaned and rolled over.

“Papa, wake up...” he heard Rocky Jr. calling him sadly.

“Papa,” Rocky Jr whined. “Wake up, Papa. Ddana’s missing,” he said, sniffling as he shook Minhyuk by the shoulders.

Minhyuk bolted up and out of bed when he heard what his son said. He looked up at the top bunk to see it was neatly made… like he never even slept in it. Next he tore through the entire room for a trace of him but he found nothing. All he left were a handful of clothes.

He sighed to himself and Rocky Jr. looked up at him with worried eyes and a trembling bottom lip.

“Papa?” Minhyuk gave his son a curious glance before sighing once again, shaking his head, and mumbling “I knew something was off with him after we got back here last night.”

“Where did Ddana go?” Rocky Jr. asked quietly.

He shook his head sadly, “I don’t know, buddy, but we can’t find him on our own. I’m gonna send notes to Myungjun and Jinwoo hyung and maybe they can help us look for him.”

Minhyuk wrote two notes exactly the same and sent them off:

**Come home now. Sanha’s missing.**

He picked up Rocky Jr and gave him a hug before heading downstairs to tell Myungjun’s mother the news. She was just as worried as Minhyuk felt. The two of them searched Sanha’s room and his bed for a note but couldn’t find anything. When Jinwoo came home, he was as worried about him as they were. He suggested looking around for clues and when he went to his and Myungjun’s room to look for them, he found some of their savings were missing.

When Myungjun came home, he asked if Sanha left anything behind and Jinwoo and Rocky both shook their heads no. When Myungjun suggested checking Minhyuk’s bed for a note, he felt dumb. He felt so stupid for not checking there when he first realized Sanha wasn’t there, and they both raced up the stairs to get to it. Myungjun got there first and ripped everything off of his bed. When he pulled the sheets and pillows off, a note floated gently to the floor and Minhyuk snatched it right up. Halfway through reading it he felt himself tear up. By the end of it, he was shaking, and he handed off the letter to Myungjun so he could read it for himself and the rest of the people in the room. He numbly went over to the foot of the bed and curled himself in a ball, buried his face in his hands and cried.

‘Sanha where are you?’

*

It’s been two weeks since Sanha ran away and Minhyuk was miserable. He tried to hold out hope that someone, somewhere would recognize him or find him but… nothing.

He thought the two of them were close, thick as thieves. He swore he knew Sanha like the back of his own hand with how much time they would spend together, but apparently, he was wrong. Sanha even said that Rocky was his best friend, so what happened?

Everything hurt, both emotionally and physically. He felt like he was dying inside, but why?

That’s a stupid question. Minhyuk knows why. But he isn’t going to say it out loud. He doesn’t want to admit it to the world- or himself- just yet.

He locked the door, climbed the mini ladder, ripped everything down off of Sanha’s bed and threw it on top of his own bed with tears clouding his vision. He pulled out a random old set of Sanha’s clothes, ripped himself out of his current ones and threw those on instead, deciding to bury himself in his little Sanha nest and cry.

After a whole day of being locked up alone in Sanha’s room, Minhyuk pulled out Rocky Jr’s rock and tried to animate him again to make himself feel better but it was no use. His son was gone. With his heart broken, Minhyuk placed Rocky Jr’s rock under his pillow, buried himself under Sanha’s blankets and sobbed into his pillow until he fell asleep fitfully surrounded by used tissues. That was…until MJ’s mother came knocking on the door the next morning. He refused to come out all day but when he heard Myungjun’s soft, pleading voice asking him to just let him in so they could talk, he gave in and unlocked the door.

After unlocking the door, he shuffled back over to his nest, crawled back in it, and waited for the door to open.

Minhyuk, with his eyes glued to a single speck of dust on the floor, sniffled once before he heard MJ open the door and walk over to him. He didn’t have to look up to know Myungjun was there next to him with arms wide open. Rocky leaned into his hyung with a quiet ‘thud.’ He was miserable, and just so, SO done with life. He didn’t even feel like he could hold his own head up anymore. It felt like a lead balloon.

When his head landed on MJ’s chest, he couldn’t hold it in anymore and broke down crying once again.

He cried for a long time, only stopping once he calmed down a little while later. At this point, Myungjun asked “Rocky…where’s Rocky Jr.?”

Rocky pulled away to look at him, lip trembling, then turned to pull his son’s rock out from under his pillow.

“I-I can’t animate him,” Rocky choked out. “I can’t concentrate on it anymore. It feels like I haven’t seen him in ages, hyung. I don’t know what to do. I feel like I’m dying, and my chest hurts so bad.”

Minhyuk felt ready to cry once more and when that happened, he was pulled in for another tight hug.

“I know. My chest hurts too,” Myungjun whispered into his hair, “I just want him back as well.”

“I miss him,” Rocky whimpered.

MJ pet the top of his head like he would a small child and cooed, “I know you do Rocky.”

“No. I REALLY miss him.” Rocky cried out. “I really, _really_ miss him. I feel like I can’t breathe without him.”

Myungjun sighed,“You love him.”


	2. Grieving

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rocky stood frozen at the large doors of the guild hall. He knows not much has changed since he was last there. It’s only been 2 months, after all. Myungjun even told him so himself.
> 
> If that’s truly the case, then why does he feel so nervous about going inside?

“You love him,” Myungjun said as Minhyuk held and caressed Rocky Jr’s rock with his fingers, sadly.

‘He’s right,’ Rocky thought to himself. He’d been denying it for so long. For so long, Rocky didn’t want to admit it to himself, but MJ hit the nail right on the head.

He sighed, “I do. I love him, hyung. I know it’s wrong. He’s our baby, our little brother. I know I shouldn’t think about him in that way, but I can’t help it. I-”

His rambling was cut off when Myungjun said “Look at me.”

When Rocky pulled back to look at him with big, round eyes, Myungjun grabbed his chin gently to hold him still.

“What you feel for Sanha isn’t wrong, not at all,” MJ said. “He might be the youngest of us all, but that doesn’t make him any less of a person does it?”

Rocky shook his head and Myungjun sighed with a sad smile, “Exactly. He deserves love just as much as the rest of us and I can’t think of a better person than you to give it to him. He’s mine and JinJin’s little brother but he’s YOUR best friend. Just because _we_ see him as a little brother, doesn’t mean you need to as well. Your love for him isn’t wrong. It’s special and beautiful and should be cherished. It’s been growing for a long time and-”

‘Hold on, what did he just say?’

“Wait, you knew?” Rocky asked, eyes wide with surprise. “How did you know?”

Myungjun smiled at Rocky once again as he let go of his chin. Instead, he cupped his face in his hands. “It’s this. Your face. It’s very expressive, especially around Sanha. You liked him even when you thought you hated him back in the academy. It wasn’t just your face either.”

Myungjun reached down to pick the little rock up out of Minhyuk’s hands. “Rocky Jr. has always loved Sanha’s company, meaning you must have at last liked it a little bit too. Also, Rocky Jr. once told me that he started growing again when Sanha kissed you.”

Rocky blushed, feeling embarrassed, and looked away.

“I know. I know why Rocky Jr.’s growth was stunted in the first place after your father saved him from the lava. It wasn’t because his original rock was melted down. It was because when I thought he was gone and I was grieving, Sanha looked after me. He looked after me and made me feel a bit better and it made me think I could even live without Rocky Jr. as long as I had Sanha. And that’s when I realized I loved him. But like I said, I thought it was wrong because he was our baby. So, I tried to ignore it and pushed it away and in turn stunted Rocky Jr.’s growth with my emotions.”

He sniffled, “Then, when Sanha kissed me, I thought maybe it wasn’t so wrong of me after all because maybe he liked me too… which is why he kissed me when I asked.”

Minhyuk felt his bottom lip tremble as he tried to hold back his tears but ended up shuddering when he breathed in and the waterworks started again. He realized he may never see his best friend again.

“But it doesn’t matter anymore because he’s _gone_. He’s gone and he’s never coming back. It’s just like he said in his letter. Looking for him is pointless and no matter how hard we try we’ll never find him.”

“Hey, don’t say that! We’ll find him.”

Rocky pulled away with a scowl at Myungjun’s words. His voice was filled with way too much optimism to be believable.

“It’s been two weeks, hyung. TWO. He’s long gone. He could have made his way to Zepheholde in that time and boarded a ship to take him across the sea.”

He lowered his head in sorrow, “We’re never seeing him again. That’s why I’m in here. I’m grieving his loss so I can get over him and move on with my life. So, tell mother that I’m not coming out. I’m not coming out until I feel better. Now, can you please just leave me alone? I need to do this by myself.”

He looked Myungjun in the eyes with determination in his own and saw his front start to crumble the longer he gazed into them.

“Fine,” MJ sighed, “but please promise me you’ll eat _something._ Just because you’re trying to ‘get over’ Sanha, it doesn’t mean you can starve yourself to death in here.”

“Hyung, I’m not going to-”

“Promise me,” Myungjun commanded, looking Rocky sternly in the eyes.

Rocky nodded, mumbling “I promise.”

He felt ready to cry again so he asked to be left alone more gently this time. Once Myungjun left the room, he bolted the door shut and let out a breath he didn’t realize he was holding in. He dragged his feet back to his Sanha nest once more, put his son’s rock back under the pillow with care and wept.

‘Sanha…’

*

Another two weeks have passed, and Rocky has heard nothing about Sanha’s whereabouts. Without his best friend… and without his son as a result, his daily life feels like nothing more than a chore. It takes effort for him to get out of bed in the morning. It takes effort to bathe and feed himself. It even takes effort for Minhyuk to sleep. He feels so hollow inside without Rocky Jr. and Sanha beside him. He misses them terribly.

Rocky hears Jinwoo and Myungjun’s conversations about their search for Sanha through the walls at night. He knows they’re using almost every coin they own to try and find him. He also knows they don’t seem like themselves anymore. They’ve started to argue and Minhyuk tries to ignore it the best he can, but it’s hard sometimes because he gets it. They’re starting to sound the way he feels… hopeless.

Rocky’s tried his best to follow MJ’s orders and may have skipped a meal here or there due to his grief since Sanha left, but most days he does eat something… even if it takes a little extra effort and he’s not really hungry.

Little by little, day by day, he’s feeling more adventurous: staying out of the bedroom for longer, taking a shower once in a while. Some nights it hits him hard, though. He buries himself in Sanha and he can’t get out- doesn’t want to get out. It feels like a vicious cycle that he can’t seem to break no matter what he does.

*

Late one night, deep under the covers of darkness, Minhyuk thinks he hears a sound far off in the distance. It’s faint and muffled at first but if he _really_ focuses on it, it gets clearer. It sounds very familiar to him… he’s positive he heard it somewhere before.

He sits up, and realizes he’s in the guild, on a barstool, with a drink sitting in front of him.

He hears the sound again, louder this time. He gets up, off of the barstool and walks in the direction of the sound.

The next thing Rocky knows, he is in a long, narrow corridor that seems to go on forever. He briefly wonders why this happened but gets distracted almost instantly. He hears the sound a third time and recognizes it. He runs towards it, past what feels like hundreds of open doors. It doesn’t get any closer. The next time he hears the sound, _the laugh_ , his mind supplies, it sounds just as far away as it was the first time he heard it.

‘Where are you?’ he thinks.

“Sanha!” Minhyuk screams as he abruptly sits up out of bed. His arm is reaching out in front of him and he desperately wishes his best friend was there at his fingertips. He pulls the arm back towards his body and clutches his chest with the hand. He falls back onto the pillow and sobs.

This misery Minhyuk calls his daily routine continues for the next month; wake up, miss Sanha, cry, sleep, repeat. It’s truly a vicious cycle, one he feels he will never break without a little help.

‘I wish Rocky Jr. was here. I could always talk to him,’ he thought.

*

One morning, late-July, Rocky gets up out of bed, takes a nice long shower, and heads into the kitchen to find Myungjun eating breakfast with Jinwoo. The two of them seem different to him somehow, but Minhyuk just can’t put his finger on why that is.

He observes them, sitting quietly at the table, occasionally glancing at each other before turning their attention back to their food. He smiles to himself at the sight, ‘they’re back to their old selves again. This is good.’

Rocky sighs, grabbing himself something to munch on before sitting in the empty chair to the sides of them, breaking them both out of their trances.

Myungjun makes a surprised squeak, and Jinwoo looks at him like he’s seen a ghost, “Rocky!”

He sends a small smile their way, “hi hyungs.”

“You look…” Myungjun starts.

“Different,” Jinwoo finishes, looking him up and down.

“Does this mean…” Myungjun never finishes that question because Rocky shakes his head no.

Coincidentally, today was the first day in almost two months that he’s felt more like himself again. He didn’t have any horrible dreams that woke him up in the middle of the night or made him cry so much he had a crusty pillowcase under his head the next morning from all the dried tears.

Minhyuk actually had a decent night’s sleep for once and woke up refreshed. He got dressed in something that wasn’t Sanha’s for a change and shaved. It was great!

He nods in their direction, fighting the muscles in his face that want him to smile, “so do you.”

Jinwoo clears his throat, causing him to look his way “Listen Rocky, Junnie and I have collectively decided to stop looking for Sanha. It doesn’t mean we’re giving up, because we’re not. We will find him eventually. That I’m sure about, but it’s hard.”

“Yeah, I brought this up to JinJin the other night while we were out following another possible lead but when we got to the place, it turned out to be another false alarm and I realized… we weren’t ourselves anymore. I was more emotional than I’ve ever been and the two of us have argued over nothing constantly, and I’m afraid that if we continue this any longer, it could end in disaster and I- _we_ don’t want that.”

Rocky smiles sadly, “I understand, hyung. I wouldn’t want your relationship to suffer any longer because of this. And to answer your earlier question, no. I’m not over Sanha. I don’t think I’ll ever really _be_ over him. He means everything to me and to have him just… leave doesn’t sit right with me. I love him so much, like you two love each other and I miss him terribly still, but I think my time to grieve is over…”

“Are you sure, Rocky?” They both look at him with worried eyes.

He nods, giving them another small, reassuring smile.

“Would… it be okay if I came back to the guild with you guys today?” He asks, shyly.

“Well of course, Rocky! Come on, let’s go!” Myungjun says happily, looping his arm through Minhyuk’s and dragging him out the door.

*

Rocky stood frozen at the large doors of the guild hall. He knows not much has changed since he was last there. It’s only been 2 months, after all. Myungjun even told him so himself.

If that’s truly the case, then why does he feel so nervous about going inside?

He shakes his head, pushing his anxiety down and takes a deep breath. He opens the doors and is greeted by the faces of all of his old friends. They all seem very happy to see him and just the thought of that makes him feel better.

Even their guild leader, Mr. Kim seems happy to have him back. He greets him with a warm handshake and a pat on the shoulder.

He spots Myungjun and Jinwoo at a table near the bar and walks over to join their table.

“It’s good to be back here,” he says as he sits down across from the sappy couple ready to join in on their conversation.

Rocky feels like he can finally get back into his old routine again in no time.

*

“I… actually had a thought, hyungs,” Minhyuk says timidly one afternoon he and the others are at the guild. He looks between the eyes of Myungjun and Jinwoo seeing he still has their undivided attention. “Maybe… maybe it’s time I started looking into Sanha’s disappearance myself.”

“What? Are you sure?” They ask him simultaneously.

He nods his head confidently, “I don’t want to give up the search. I will find him. I’ll find him and I’ll bring him home.”

“Well, do you have a plan?” Jinwoo, the natural-born leader, asks.

“Not yet, honestly,” Minhyuk says, scratching the back of his head. Uhhh… B-but I will come up with one!” He promises.

*

Over the next few weeks, Rocky prepares himself for the biggest, most important job he’s ever taken from the guild: finding Sanha.

_It started the day after he told Myungjun and Jinwoo that he was ready to start searching on his own. He got called into the Dragon Knight’s office as soon as he arrived at the guild._

_Minhyuk knocked on the door, stomach full of nervous butterflies. He didn’t know why he was nervous. He didn’t think he did anything to get himself into trouble this quickly after being gone so long._

_Mr. Kim looked up at him from his paperwork as soon as he walked in, “Ah! Rocky! Just the man I wanted to see.”_

_“What can I do for you, Mr. Kim?”_

_“I heard you wanted to start looking for Sanha on your own,” He says, getting right to the point._

_Rocky feels his stomach twist in ten thousand different knots, “y-yes, I did.”_

_Mr. Kim’s gaze softens as he looks at his nervous expression, “no need to be nervous, kid. I don’t bite… and I’m certainly not going to get upset with you for wanting to search for your friend.”_

_Rocky relaxes at this and sighs in relief._

_“I heard from Myungjun and Jinwoo that they’ve only come across false alarms in the past few months, but since you seem to know him the best out of everyone here, maybe you’d have a better shot at it.”_

_Rocky sighs sadly, “I’m not so sure of that anymore.”_

_It’s quiet for a few moments. Mr. Kim seems to be gathering his thoughts before he hesitantly speaks again, “I… know it’s been hard for you these past couple months without Sanha here. It’s been hard for all of us. He was so bright and full of energy.”_

_He clears his throat, “a-anyway, I wish to help you in your search for him, but I can’t do much from here. All I can give you is the list of places across Aredrinnor that Myungjun and Jinwoo have already been to in their search and hope you have better luck at other places.”_

_“I… don’t know what to say, sir,” Rocky says honestly. “Thank you so much.”_

_“You don’t have to say anything else, Rocky. Think of it as a job from the guild. The reward would be your best friends back.”_

_“That’s the only reward I could ever want from a job like this,” Rocky chokes out a laugh._

_He can feel his eyes start to sting with tears as he bows deeply in gratitude, but he refuses to let any of them fall. He’s done with crying._

_Mr. Kim gives him a comforting pat on the shoulder and hands him the list. He skims over it quickly and makes a mental note to thank his hyungs too before stuffing the list in his pocket so he can take it home later._

Home…

_“Uhhh, Mr. Kim?”_

_“Yes, son. What can I do for you?” Their guild leader asks curiously._

_“I was wondering if it was okay if I head back home to Zepheholde before I start my search. I miss my family and would like to see them all again and stay with them… maybe over the holidays?”_

_“Of course. I understand how you feel now that I’ve gotten to know Myungjun. I’m sure they miss you too.”_

_Minhyuk nods, “my mother sends me notes asking how I’ve been lately. I haven’t told her anything about Sanha going missing or how I’m feeling about the matter. We have a lot to catch up on.”_

_“I’m sure you do. Now, go. You have a job to get ready for, yes?” Mr. Kim says._

_Rocky bows once more as he leaves the room, stomach full of nervous butterflies once again._

Now, he has work to do.


	3. Meeting You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Today is the day: the day that will change Minhyuk’s life forever. He was so excited he barely slept a wink the night before. After making his first rock all by himself a few years ago, he and his mother knew he was destined to go to the Academy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now, we get into the fun stuff (in my opinion).
> 
> This chapter is going to be formatted a little differently than the others and I think I'm going to continue to format it this way so your eyes don't hurt too much while reading this. So, anything in between these marks (~~) is a memory.
> 
> That is all. Enjoy :D

It’s officially been four months since Sanha disappeared. Minhyuk finally sent his mother a note letting her know he was coming home for a while but didn’t give any explanation. He feels it would be better to explain in person. He packed up all of his stuff from the Kim residence and left with a promise to do his best to find Sanha and bring him back home.

**~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~**

Today is the day: the day that will change Minhyuk’s life forever. He was so excited he barely slept a wink the night before. After making his first rock all by himself a few years ago, he and his mother both knew he was destined to go to the Academy.

“Come on, Bin-hyung! Let’s go!” Minhyuk shouts to his long-time friend, Moon Bin.

“Hold it boys,” a voice calls out to the two making them stop in their tracks. Rocky turns to see his mother with her arms crossed in front of her chest.

“Aren’t you forgetting something, Minhyukkie?”

“Eommaaaa~” he whines, embarrassed at the nickname. She opens her arms for a hug, and he runs into it quickly despite his embarrassment.

“Don’t forget to send me letters okay? I don’t care how long they take at first, I will always reply as soon as I get them. Don’t worry, you too, will learn to communicate quickly through your magic but it will take time. I love you, my son.”

“Love you too, mother,” he hums into her side.

After saying goodbye to their families, they both board the carriage together full of excitement and energy.

A little while down the road, Rocky is still bouncing excitedly in his seat.

Bin looks at him, shakes his head and sighs, “you _do_ know that it’s going to take us two weeks to get there, right?”

“TWO WEEKS?! That’s like… FOREVER, hyung! I don’t think I can wait that long,” he whines.

“Well, I can.” Bin smiles to himself as he leans back and closes his eyes.

‘He can really sleep anywhere…’ Minhyuk thinks to himself as he watches his friend slip into dreamland.

He sighs quietly to himself. “It’s going to be a long ride.”

*

Minhyuk, now almost ready to collapse with his entrance exam finally completed, has a moment to relax with Bin while they wait for instruction. Blaze, the fire elemental instructor said that the other elemental instructors would call them up one by one to go find their dorms.

He sighed in relief, ‘maybe now I can get some rest in an actual bed again.’

After Blaze took the fire users, another man who called himself Frost asked for all water and ice users which meant Bin had to leave. Minhyuk smiled sleepily at him and waved with a little “bye hyung, see you later.”

Then, a tall, skinny man who went by the name of Grove called for all Earth users which meant it was time to go. Minhyuk yawned and rubbed his eyes before he heard a voice call out to him.

“You look like you could use some help, do you want me to take your things?” He blinked sleepily at the boy speaking to him.

“I won’t run away with it, I promise; we’re going to the same place after all.”

Minhyuk yawned again and shook his head at the nice offer, “No thanks, I just had a long journey here, but I can still carry my own stuff.”

“How long of a journey here?” he asked curiously.

“About two weeks,” he replied casually.

“TWO WEEKS?!” the boy shrieked. “That’s such a long time! Where did you come from? It only took me and my friends a few days,” he said surprised.

“I came in from Zepheholde with my friend, Moon Bin,” he explained. The poor boy he was talking to looked lost, so he tries to explain it a little further.

“Zepheholde… the city of trade?...Where the port is?... Where the land’s biggest marketplace is?” Minhyuk searched his eyes for any sign of recognition but sadly, nothing.

“… I’m sorry, how do you not know this already? Do you live in the desert or something?”

The boy tilted his head like a confused puppy, “desert?”

Minhyuk groaned and rubbed at his temples in frustration.

“Seriously, you must have lived away from civilization to not know anything about Zepheholde. Everyone calls it the city of magic and adventure. People go to all the foreign lands using the port there and come back with so many exciting stories!” He explains enthusiastically.

He sighs dreamily, “I’d love to travel across the sea one day.”

“I’ve never seen the sea, but my mother spoke about it sometimes,” the boy said quietly.

“You don’t get out much, I’m guessing,” Minhyuk observed.

The boy sulked, “I didn’t know much about anything, apparently.”

Rocky smiled gently at him and patted him on the back, “I’m Minhyuk by the way: Park Minhyuk. But everyone just calls me Rocky.”

The boy brightened up at that, replying with “You can just call me Myungjun. Why do people call you Rocky?”

Minhyuk opened his bag and pulled out the rock he deemed as his son. “This is Rocky Jr. The first rock I ever made. I haven’t been able to make one since… but he’s enough.”

He smiled at it lovingly while stroking it with his thumb.

“You make rocks?” Myungjun asked.

Rocky nodded, “Earth elemental, ground manipulation variety,” he proudly finished by showing off his birthmark.

They chatted for a while longer until Grove called for their attention and shortly after that, they had to part ways for a while and were each led to their new homes for the school year.

*

Now that Rocky is fully acquainted with his new roommates, it’s time to head down to the main hall for the big feast. He walks out of his dorm and begins chatting with a girl with blonde hair before Myungjun walks by. Myungjun challenges Rocky to see who can get to the doors of the dining hall first and soon they both take off running. When they get there, Myungjun is distracted by one of his friends and so Rocky leaves him alone to search for the pink mop of hair that his own friend has.

‘He shouldn’t be this hard to find,’ he thinks when he doesn’t spot Bin right away. He soon gives up looking, and plops down into an empty seat at a table near a relatively quiet person and an obnoxiously loud person. (He only realizes this when he hears the small, skinny kid screeching Myungjun’s name across the room and then laughs hysterically at something his other friend did.) ‘Annoying brat..’

After the feast, Rocky got up from his seat to stretch and decided to walk over. He could sense that Rocky Jr. was hungry and, without really knowing what rocks like to eat, decides to see what he can find.

He takes Rocky Jr., stroking him gently with his thumb, and asked Myungjun if they had any leftover food at their table. Myungjun handed him a few fries and he placed them carefully on the floor.

He then lifted Rocky Jr. into the air and brought him down, _hard_ , on top of the fries. When he picked Rocky Jr. up again, he was disappointed to see nothing was eaten.

He sighed, “Rocky Jr. doesn’t like the taste of those either. I don’t even know what rocks like to eat.”

He walked back to his own table and shortly after, there was an announcement for a demonstration.

*

“Hey, what does everyone want to do this afternoon?”

It was Sunday and everyone had Sunday afternoons off. It wouldn’t be until evening that Sanha and Jinwoo would leave for their service. Usually on Sundays, they would just sit by the lake and tell each other stories. However, as the months passed and it got cooler out, it no longer became their go-to activity.

“We could always go down to the combat center and have a mini tournament to see who’s improved the most.” Rocky suggested, feeling competitive.

“Or we could go to the library and study,” Dongmin countered. Everyone except Namjoon was against his idea. So, they went with Rocky’s idea and found themselves down in the combat center a while later. Dongmin whined the entire way there.

“I’m bad at fighting, I’m going to lose straight away so what’s the point?” he sulked and Rocky watched as Myungjun patted his shoulder sympathetically.

He wrote down everyone’s name on a piece of paper and put them all in a hat. Then, Rocky called for their attention and decided to get things moving.

“To make this fair,” he began. “I’ve written our names on some parchment and I’ll pick them at random to see who goes against who.”

Everyone agreed, some more reluctantly then others (*Cough* Dongmin) and Rocky closed his eyes and picked out the first pair.

“Okay, first up is Sanha and Namjoon.” Rocky declared, waving the papers around to let everyone see.

Namjoon walked over to the mats they’d set up in the middle of the room and Sanha was hesitant to follow.

“Are you any good at fighting, hyung?”

“Not really.” Namjoon replied, offering an apologetic smile.

Before Rocky could tell them to start, Bin called out “rules first!” He stood up from his spot next to Rocky and everyone gave him their full attention.

“Rule number one: No attacking each other’s faces. Rule number two: If you fall, you lose. That’s all.” He sat back down next to Rocky and then it was almost time to start.

‘This should be fun.’

Rocky called out for them to begin and everyone watched as Sanha hesitantly approached Namjoon. The boy looked scared but determined. Rocky wasn’t too worried for him. However, he _was_ worried for his eardrums a few seconds later when Sanha screamed high and loud as Namjoon lunged his way. Minhyuk watched as Sanha jumped back instinctively to dodge the attack and when he did, Namjoon lost his balance because he reached out too far. He fell to the floor not too gracefully and everyone cheered.

Sanha won, surprising everyone including himself (if the look on his face is anything to go by.)

“Wow, Sanha! Way to go!” Dongmin cheered.

Minhyuk didn’t want to admit he was even a little bit impressed, so he scoffed and patted Sanha on the back, “guess luck was on your side today.”

“Our baby is the best!” Myungjun shouted, running over to give Sanha a hug.

“Hyung, I’m not a baby,” Sanha whined. “I’m 10 years old,” he grumbled while trying to wiggle free from the death grip Myungjun had him trapped in.

“Exactly, you’re a baby.” Rocky heard Jinwoo laugh at the famous line and he smiled to himself as he got ready to pull out the next pair to spar.

*

It’s now dinner time one Monday evening, and Rocky is trying once again to feed his son but he just won’t eat anything. He sighs to himself after the most recent failed attempt at feeding him a piece of chicken.

He heard someone sit down at his table and looked up to see Myungjun in thought.

“I don’t think he likes human food,” he pointed out.

He sighed again and put the piece of chicken back on the plate.

“I think you’re right, hyung, but what else am I supposed to feed him?” Rocky asked, annoyed.

Myungjun shrugged, “maybe he’s a cannibal and likes to eat other rocks.”

Rocky perked up at that suggestion. He jumped up immediately, leaving Rocky Jr. in Myungjun’s care while he went to go find some small rocks to feed Rocky Jr. with.

He found a bunch of stones in the plant pots outside and grabbed as many as he could carry. He ran back inside as fast as he could, with arms full.

“Did you make those yourself?” Myungjun asked.

Rocky shook his head, “I took them from the plant pots outside.”

He dropped the stones onto the floor and carefully took Rocky Jr. from Myungjun’s lap. Both Jinwoo and Myungjun looked at each other and then at him before Jinwoo asked “Are you even allowed to do that?”

Rocky chose not to answer… Instead he began smashing Rocky Jr against the small stones. He did what he was taught in his Practical Skills class and focused all his magical energy into Rocky Jr. Soon, he started to feel light-headed but he noticed something was finally happening to his son.

He heard gasps and random other mumbles from across the room as his son started to take form. Two short stubby legs started coming out of the bottom of the rock and four stony arms came out, two from each side. Rocky waved a small stone and Rocky Jr crunched it happily as his last arm fully formed.

“What the hell is THAT?” Rocky heard Sanha shriek from behind himself.

“Papa?” Rocky Jr said, looking up at Minhyuk. He looked at him and smiled proudly before gesturing to him and answering Sanha’s question “THAT is my son.”

Rocky watched on fondly as his son stumbled around trying to get used to his new body.

“Wow, he really wasn’t crazy after all,” Jinwoo said in disbelief.

Rocky scowled at him, offended, “who said I was crazy?”

He turned away and focused again on his son, asking him if he was ready to go to class. Rocky Jr. nodded and Rocky stood up to leave. He grabbed his things and started heading off to Zoology shortly after with his son stumbling behind him (he looked back to check on him every few minutes).

**~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~**

“Son, if it’s alright, I’d like to stop here and get some rest for the night,” the driver said, pulling Minhyuk out of his memories by the sound of his voice. When he pulled up to an inn in a small town pretty far from Voredan, Minhyuk nodded absentmindedly, “That’s alright,sir. It’s getting pretty late now, anyway.”

“We will regroup first thing in the morning, goodnight.” The older gentleman said as he checked into a room.

Minhyuk smiled at him and checked himself into his own room, retiring for the night.


	4. Yin & Yang

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “What? Fate? Is that even real?” Minhyuk asks skeptically.
> 
> “I believe it is,” Ms. Lee replied. “I don’t believe in coincidences. Everything must happen for a reason, Minhyuk. It’s what I’ve always believed.”

The next morning, Minhyuk woke up to the sun shining through his window. He thought it was odd at first because there should be a bed blocking the window, but then he remembered that he wasn’t home at the Kim residence anymore. He was now out at an Inn, on his way home to see his family- his _real_ family- after a very long time.

Minhyuk left his temporary room, after making sure he had everything he came in with. He walked downstairs and was met with the amazing smell of breakfast. He walked over to one of the small tables in the dining area, asked for a plate of whatever smelled delicious, and began chowing it down.

The older gentleman that was taking him joined his table a few moments later and once the two men finished eating and paid what they each owed, they were on their way once again.

**~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~**

Minhyuk made it early to Zoology the day Rocky Jr. came to life. His son asked for a race and he was so cute when he did so, Minhyuk couldn’t deny him that.

The two of them arrived so early, they decided to sit in the tall grass on the forest floor and wait for everyone else from class to join them. As students trickled into the class one by one, Minhyuk could sense Rocky Jr. was getting restless so he let him run around for a bit before the teacher got there.

Once everyone got there, Rocky told his son to come by his side and behave while he had to learn. He didn’t have to tell him this exactly, he could sense the little rock already knew he had to. He stood off to the side and waited patiently while the instructor walked to the center of the area.

Then, the instructor Ms. Lee was ready to begin class. A while into class, she wheeled in a large cart full of cages into the area.

“Now then class, today I have a special assignment for you. I’m sure you all remember that last Friday I spoke of an announcement that will be made after the weekend.”

Rocky nodded, recalling the information she mentioned.

“Your assignment begins with picking one of the cages here. They are magically protected and you cannot see inside. They each contain a copy of a unique magical creature and your task is to look after them until February. It will make up fifty percent of your final grade, so you need to look after them well.”

She paused, looking around to make sure everyone understood before she said  
“You may now come up one by one to choose a cage.”

Rocky watched as Namjoon, Dongmin, and Bin went up to choose their cages before it was his turn. He chose a random cage, not really thinking it mattered too much which one he chose before he went back to where his friends were and carefully lowered it to the ground. He opened the door to the cage and stepped back. When he did, a cute white tiger cub poked her little head out and looked up at him with her big, blue eyes. Then, she got distracted by a butterfly flying near her head and swatted at it with her paw.

Minhyuk laughed at the adorable display before looking around. He saw Namjoon’s little owl stuck in a tree, Dongmin’s dolphin floating gracefully through the air and Moon Bin’s wolf pup following him around like he was suddenly the alpha.

“Why aren’t you opening your cage, hyung?” Rocky asked Myungjun, walking towards him when he saw him staring at it nervously.

He heard his son and assignment playing together behind him and stole a quick glance to make sure they were okay before turning his attention back to Myungjun.

“I’m scared,” he admitted honestly.

“Do you want me to open the cage for you, hyung?” Rocky offered.

Myungjun nodded, still staring at said cage. Rocky opened it for him carefully before he went to chase after his son and new assignment.

*

Minhyuk is walking to his practical skills class one day when he sees Sanha walking towards him in the opposite direction. He is very tempted to brag and say that he’s going to practical skills where he is at the top of his class according to his instructor, Mr. Ahn when he knows for a fact that Sanha isn’t very good in his own practical skills class, but holds back when he sees how concentrated Sanha looks up close. He doesn’t even acknowledge that Minhyuk is there. He walks right by him, bumping into his shoulder. 

Sanha turns to apologize and when he does, he takes his eyes off of the ground for a second and ends up tripping on a crack in the floor. Minhyuk instinctively tries to reach out and catch him, but Sanha’s just out of his reach and he falls, bumping his head and giving himself a nosebleed.

Minhyuk sighs, feeling bad, and helps Sanha up off the floor. Sanha groans in pain and Minhyuk barks at him a little, telling him to keep his head back while he leads him in the direction of the infirmary.

‘I’m gonna be SO late to class because of this clumsy brat,’ Minhyuk thinks as they’re now walking in the opposite direction of where he needed to be.

“Come on, you big baby,” He says to Sanha, pulling gently on his elbow. “The infirmary isn’t too far away, now.”

*

Saturday afternoon rolls around once again and Minhyuk is hanging around with Myungjun and Jinwoo in the large clearing their classes use for zoology. Everyone got pretty comfortable with their assignments, so they let them run around and play together.

“Papa, can I go play too?” Rocky Jr asks as he’s sitting in Rocky’s lap watching the little white tigress play with her dragon friend.

Rocky nods telling him to be careful with the creatures since he doesn’t yet know his own strength.

Shortly after Minhyuk hears Rocky Jr laughing happily, he thinks he’s seeing double. Where he first just saw his own little tiger cub, he now sees two that look almost exactly the same.

He shakes his head and blinks a couple of times to make sure he’s not seeing things or going crazy.

“Nope, there’s really two of them,” he says surprised.

“Hey, Sanha!” Myungjun shouts, seemingly ignoring Minhyuk’s baffled expression.

He looks up to see Sanha running closer, “hey, hyung! Have you seen…”

He stops mid-sentence at the scene before him. Two identical looking tigers are play-fighting with each other while Rocky Jr is trying (and failing) to catch Myungjun’s dragon.

“Uhhhh… why are there two of them?” Sanha asks the group, staring owlishly at the white tiger cubs.

“Well…” Rocky starts, “one of them’s mine. It’s my special assignment from zoology.”

“I thought all the first year students got different ones. Why is it just ours that are the same?” Sanha asks, confused.

Rocky shrugs, “don’t ask me. I’m just as confused as you are, evil brat.”

Sanha scowls back at him before storming off, leaving his project with the others, momentarily forgotten about.

Rocky starts to follow him, but Sanha stops him saying he wants to talk to their teacher himself.

He groans, rubbing his eyes with his palms, “why are you so stubborn, Sanha?”

Sanha didn’t hear him. He was long gone.

*

Later, Sanha came back to the clearing, mumbling to himself. Everyone seemed concerned as to what happened.

He grumbled, “it wasn’t a mistake,” which left everyone no longer concerned, but confused. Why were there two tiger assignments?

“Did she tell you why? Or how it was possible?” Rocky asked him. He was ignored and never got the answer he was looking for.

‘Guess I have to go find out for myself,’ he thought.

Minhyuk got the chance to ask Ms. Lee right after their next class.

“Excuse me, Ms. Lee?,” he asked as politely as possible.

She sighed, “If this is about your assignment, I will tell you what I told Sanha. I can’t do anything about changing your creature.”

Minhyuk furrowed his brow, perplexed, “what? Change it? No! I just wanted to know why he and I got the same creature assigned to us. I thought all of them were supposed to be different magical creatures.”

Then he thought about what she just said, “... wait. Sanha wanted to change it?” That didn’t make any sense to him. Why would he want to change it? The tigers are so cute.

Ms. Lee sighed again, “Sanha didn’t tell you, then?”

“No, he… didn’t tell me anything…” Minhyuk smiled sadly at Ms. Lee. “I don’t think he likes me very much.”

‘Maybe that’s why…’

“That’s a shame. The two of you are very nice boys and it would be ideal for your assignments if you got along,” she said sadly. 

“Anyway,” she carried on, “I’ll explain to you what I explained to him the last time he and I met. I had no control over which mythical creature is paired with which magic user. All I know is that the small cages have small creatures and the larger ones have larger creatures. The way you were paired up… you could call the work of the deity or fate… however you wish to describe it.”

“What? Fate? Is that even real?” Minhyuk asks skeptically.

“I believe it is,” Ms. Lee replied. “I don’t believe in coincidences. Everything must happen for a reason, Minhyuk. It’s what I’ve always believed.”

“I see…” Minhyuk sighed, “that still doesn’t explain why there are two of the same creature when we were told they are all supposed to be different.”

Ms. Lee started to pace back and forth while Minhyuk assumed she was trying to think of how to explain it best.

“The twin tigers are a very special pair. Have you heard of the term yin and yang?” She asks.

Minhyuk nods.

“Your two tigers are a physical representation of that exact belief. Two seemingly opposite things that are connected in some way. Essentially, their two souls are one and the same. They compliment and depend on each other. Without one, the other will not survive.”

“So like… soulmates?” Minhyuk concludes.

Ms. Lee did not respond to his question. Instead she dismissed him with one last piece of advice.

“Remember this: you can learn a lot from your assignments- much more than you even realize.”

Minhyuk left the clearing deep in thought. ‘So it really wasn’t a mistake…’

*

Minhyuk ran into Sanha later that night.

“Hey, can we talk?” he asks the curly haired boy, after jogging to catch up with him.

Sanha stopped walking and glared at him.

“Please?” he begged.

“I’m listening…” Sanha snaps.

Minhyuk looks him in the eyes to make sure he has his complete attention.

“Why did you want to switch assignments so badly? Am I really that bad of a person that you wanted to switch so badly when you found out we had the same one?” He asks Sanha sincerely. 

“Do you really want me to answer that?” Sanha replies with his own question before turning to walk away.

“Hey, I’m not finished yet,” Minhyuk says, stopping Sanha in his tracks once again.

“At least, let’s try to be civil for them… our assignments. Ms. Lee told me they depend on each other to survive. They need each other, Sanha. That’s what makes them so special.”

He saw Sanha’s tense shoulders relax, “fine… but only for them, nothing else.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Sigh* I wish these two would stop being so stubborn


	5. Friends?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “What did Sanha see that made him so frightened by that illusion on the third floor?” he mumbles.
> 
> “Did you say something, son?” the old man calls back to him from the front of the carriage.
> 
> “Oh… No. Sorry, sir. I’m just talking to myself, that’s all,” he chuckles awkwardly, scratching the back of his head.

Rocky got pretty used to having Sanha around. He’s worried he might actually miss the boy over the summer break. Of course they still disagree constantly and he’s still clumsy which confuses Rocky to no end because he has air magic and is supposed to be graceful because that’s what all other air magic users are… that’s what his mother is. But if anything, it gives him more to tease the boy about which is always fun. 

The final dungeon run for their first year has come up and Minhyuk definitely feels more prepared than he did the first time he went down there back in February.

February’s dungeon run was a disaster. They didn’t know what to expect. Both Bin and Jinwoo hyung went out on the first floor and that just set them up for failure later on. Hopefully everyone makes it past the first floor this time. That’s all Minhyuk wants.

They all manage to make it past the large rats on the first floor with relatively minor scratches. The boss on the next floor is a larger version of the rats on the first floor and Minhyuk knew to hold Rocky Jr. back after what happened to him the last time. He shudders at the thought of losing him again like that.

Once Dongmin and Myungjun made the first move against the giant rat, it was Jinwoo’s turn and he happily bursts into a large green flame before roasting the rat alive. Then, they all move on to the third floor.

*

“Minhyukkie, help!” Rocky hears his mother shout in distress.

“Eomma! Where are you?” he shouts back. He’s in a labyrinth of sorts, trying to find his mother in time to save her.

“I’m not sure. Try to use your magic to sense me! I know it’ll be hard but I believe in you. You can do it, Minhyukkie!” he hears her say.

He tries his best to do as she says, but can’t sense her anywhere.

“I can’t sense you anywhere, mother. I don’t think I’m strong enough yet. Just keep talking to me. I’ll find you that way.”

She does what he says and he follows the sound of her voice to try and find her. He hears it get closer and closer and then... he gasps, falling to his knees. He’s back in the dungeons. He looks up to see Myungjun’s outstretched hand. He took it and got back on his feet.

“What happened?” He asks, very confused. “I hadn’t found a way out yet.”

“Rocky Jr. was your way out,” Myungjun answers, smiling. “I noticed he wasn’t affected by the illusion and because he’s an extension of your magical energy, he was able to crush the fairy that I couldn’t touch.”

Minhyuk looked over at Rocky Jr. silently asking him if what Myungjun said was true. He nods up at him and Minhyuk crouches down to give his son a hug.

“Thank you, buddy. You saved me,” he whispers.

When he stands back up, he sees Bin get out of his illusion and crush his fairy. He let Myungjun know since he was focused on Jinwoo for the moment.

Once Bin is able to break Dongmin’s illusion with a kiss, Rocky has the chance to focus on Sanha. He was the only one left stuck in his illusion. Then, he starts sinking.

“SANHA NO!” Minhyuk shouts in an attempt to snap him out of it. “We’re losing him, Hyungs! Do something!” He begs, desperately.

Moon Bin sighs, “unless you want to try kissing him, we have to let him go.”

Minhyuk’s brain stutters at the suggestion. ‘K-kiss him? I can’t do that… can I? Would it even work? What if he hates me after? I mean… he hated me before, but that was for a different reason. I don’t want him to hate me for _kissing_ him, though.’

“Whatever Sanha saw must have messed him up bad,” Bin says, pulling Minhyuk out of his own thoughts.

He shakes his head, deciding to say what everyone probably expected him to (even if he really didn’t think it would be so bad to kiss him), “Ew, no way am I kissing him, he’s a baby.”

“He’s 11,” Dongmin points out, wiping his eyes. “Sanha’s not a baby. He’s only one year younger than you.”

Rocky scowls at Dongmin’s sound logic. He doesn’t want to admit he is right.

**~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~**

The memories of the illusions from the first year dungeon runs make Minhyuk think. He is quickly reminded that Sanha saw it again in their second year on that same exact floor.

“What did Sanha see that made him so frightened by that illusion on the third floor?” he mumbles.

“Did you say something, son?” the old man calls back to him from the front of the carriage.

“Oh… No. Sorry, sir. I’m just talking to myself, that’s all,” he chuckles awkwardly, scratching the back of his head.

The old man laughs too and soon there is silence in the carriage once more. 

**~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~**

Minhyuk wakes up in the infirmary the next day. He is relieved to no longer be feeling any pain in his leg. He is still low on energy, however, so he remained in bed for the rest of the day. He does reanimate Rocky Jr. though, so he could have a little company while he rests. He manages to fall back asleep to let his body continue healing. A while later, his son tries to wake him.

“Papa? Papa! Someone’s here to see you, wake up. He told me not to tell you who he was but he really wants to see you. I can tell.”

He just smiles, half asleep, rubs the top of Rocky Jr.’s stony head and falls back asleep.

The nurse comes by to check on him a while later. She explains that a healer had come by to repair the damages done to his leg and that he was free to leave now.

‘Maybe that’s what Rocky Jr. was talking about earlier?’ He wonders.

‘But wait… I thought that I was healed the first day I woke up here. So, if it wasn’t the healer… then who?’

He shakes it off as he got ready to leave the infirmary and head to class.

*

Summer has finally rolled around and now Minhyuk can relax at home… hopefully. His mother came to pick him up and the trip home seemed faster than the trip there. It might’ve been because he was so busy telling her about his experiences at the academy but he wasn’t keeping track.

They arrive home together and he is greeted at the door with a warm hug from his father. After a while of catching up, they let him go unpack and when he goes to his room he is attacked by his younger brother, Minseok.

“HYUNG!!!” He hears the boy shout as soon as he opens the door.

He rubs his inner ear with the tip of his finger and huffs, “I almost forgot you’re just as loud as Sanha…”

“Sanha? Who’s Sanha?” his brother asks, tilting his head to the side.

Minhyuk groans, while Rocky Jr. explains, “Sanha is another boy in Papa’s class. I really like him. He’s funny.”

“Uhhhh… hyung? Why did that rock pile just garble like that?” Minseok asks, concerned.

Minhyuk sighs and shakes his head. ‘This is going to be a long summer…’

“That is my special companion, Rocky Jr. He is my son. He came to life during the school year.”

Minseok’s expression turned into one of recognition.

“THAT’S what mother was talking about when she read your letter a while ago!”

Minhyuk nods.

“So wait… what did he say about Sanha?” his brother asks, smirking.

Minhyuk shakes his head, “nothing. He just said that he’s another kid from my class. He has air magic… like you and mother.” He smiles to himself at the thought.

Minseok is in awe, “wow! So cool, hyung! I wanna meet him one day!”

Rocky snorts, “are you sure? He’s not that good at his magic and he’s super clumsy, very loud, and annoying… like you.”

“HEY!” his younger brother protests.

He continues to unpack, ignoring the other occupant of the room, and soon it is time for dinner.

‘Yep… Just like Sanha.’

*

The first half of the second school year went by faster than Minhyuk expected. The holidays are quickly approaching and he and his friends get a chance to relax before the second half begins.

The academy’s annual trip to Voredan is swiftly approaching and Minhyuk couldn’t be more excited. He loves venturing into the city and seeing what it had to offer. He was even more excited this year because Rocky Jr. was bigger and he didn’t have to worry about him so much.

“Papa! I wanna go explore by myself. I think I’m big enough now,” Rocky Jr. says, pouting up at Minhyuk.

“Of course you are, buddy. Go ahead,” Minhyuk smiles. Of course, he wouldn’t let him get too far ahead. He doesn’t want him to disappear because he wandered too far.

He trails behind his son as he stumbles along. Soon they come to a tavern called **The Silver Marigold** and Rocky Jr. couldn’t wait to get inside.

Minhyuk hears laughter and music coming from inside the tavern and decides to open the door to see for himself what was going on.

When he does open the door, he is surprised at how quiet the room gets so suddenly. He looks to the stage and is shocked to see _Sanha_ of all people up there with a guitar in his lap.

Minhyuk is truly amazed by what he sees. Sanha looks like a completely different person performing on stage. Minhyuk can’t move, he’s so stunned. He doesn't want to move. He feels like a spell has been cast over him and all he can see- all he can think about is Sanha. He looks so… different: so mature. His voice sounds so clear and so sad. He can truly feel the emotion, the pain Sanha is expressing through his voice.

MInhyuk is speechless. He feels… odd. His heart starts racing and his head starts pounding. He feels his palms getting clammy and his face getting unusually warm.

‘What the hell is wrong with me?’ he wonders.

He pulls Rocky Jr. back quickly, grabbing on to his original rock and slipping it into his pocket before turning right back around and leaving the tavern to get some fresh air and try to cool himself off.

*

The group of five friends (six, counting Rocky Jr.) has finally made it through the jungle and is now swiftly approaching the volcano area of the Battledome. 

Minhyuk watches as his son races to attack someone sneaking up on Myungjun from behind.

‘Nice one, buddy,’ he thinks. 

He turns to the others now and sees Sanha being chased through the lava-filled battlefield by another student. He notices his limp and looks closer at his face to see he is terrified. Between the ice shards coming at him and the lava, he doesn’t look like he has anywhere to go. ‘I gotta help him.’

Minhyuk thinks quickly about what he can possibly do to help Sanha and decides to send Rocky Jr. over to help him lose the guy tailing him. He takes care of it pretty quickly and now that Minhyuk doesn’t have to worry about Sanha, he can focus on the rest of the members of the opposing teams in the area.

*

Once they all have a moment to breathe again, Myungjun tells Sanha he wants to look at his ankle since they all saw him limping earlier.

Sanha whines, “but hyung~ I’m fine.”

Minhyuk sees the skepticism in Myungjun’s eyes as he tells him to try and walk normally. When Sanha winces after taking a step, Myungjun sighs and tells him to sit down and roll up his pant leg so he could inspect it. Sanha pouts cutely before doing as he was told.

Minhyuk stands off to the side, listening in on the conversation.

“It’s a sprain,” Myungjun says, “see the bruising and the swelling? You shouldn’t put too much weight on it.”

“Great,” Sanha whines, “I just had to trip, didn’t I?”

“At least you’re not as bad as you were in the guesthouse,” Myungjun says lightheartedly, “you used to trip and get nosebleeds all the time.”

Sanha pouts again and crosses his arms over his chest, making Minhyuk smile briefly to himself. He sighs, trying to make it seem like the whole thing bothered him. He makes his way over to where they were and crouches down in front of Sanha turning his back towards him.

“Get on.”

It is silent for a moment before he feels Sanha climb onto his back. Minhyuk stands up surprisingly easily with Sanha on his back. He hears the kid squeal behind his back happily (while making Minhyuk half deaf in the process).

“Thanks Hyung!”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah. You’re welcome Sanha,” he grumbles.

“Let’s go, this kid is heavy,” Minhyuk says, hiking Sanha further up on his back and wrapping his legs around his waist.

Sanha squeals, offended and tries to get down. Minhyuk is stronger though and holds him tight by the legs he wrapped around his own waist.

He chuckles at Sanha, rolling his eyes, “I’m joking, calm down.”

Minhyuk could sense Sanha’s pout behind him and feels him hook his chin over his shoulder. He looks at him out of the corner of his eye and smiles secretly before everyone is startled by the loud rumble of the volcanoes up above.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Uh oh...


	6. Ddana

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Hyung?” Sanha asks in the smallest voice Minhyuk ever heard from him. He turns to look at him, silently asking him to continue speaking.
> 
> “You’re gonna be okay… right?”
> 
> “I… I don’t know, Sanha,” he answers honestly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Get the tissues ready. This chapter is gonna be a sad one.

With Sanha’s limbs wrapped tightly around himself, Minhyuk takes off running as soon as Myungjun says they have to. He comes to a halt, however, when a giant rock lands heavily right in front of him and Sanha. He feels Sanha jump and bury his face in the back of his neck when the large rock breaks apart and sprays smaller, sharper rocks everywhere. 

Minhyuk dodges as many of those smaller rocks as he possibly can before taking off again. Rocky Jr. is hot on their tail and it gives Minhyuk an idea.

“Hey, you hungry buddy? ‘Cause it’s lunch time.”

“YES!! I’m SO hungry. Thank you Papa!” He says, happily.

Minhyuk smiles at his son, “I want you to eat as many of those rocks as possible. Grow as big as you can and try to block the other rocks from hitting us. You think you can do that?”

Rocky Jr. nods and takes off, determined to do just that. He devours rock after rock and his footsteps soon turn into foot-stomps.

Minhyuk hears Myungjun scream from far away as he sees the shadow of a large rock coming closer and closer to himself and Sanha on his back. Before it could hit them, however, Rocky Jr. punches it right out of the air to save them.

Minhyuk could feel his magical energy draining rapidly as his son continues to grow in size but he keeps pushing. He thanks him tiredly and slows down as Rocky Jr. is running around punching rock after rock. They all have to get out of here… they just have to.

Rocky Jr. must’ve sensed his energy draining and worried about the giant wave of lava coming right behind them, because he races back to help them. He lifts them up in his large, stony fist and throws them as hard as he can. Minhyuk and Sanha are saved by Myungjun’s vines but the same couldn’t be said for Rocky Jr.

Minhyuk’s eyes fill with tears as his son is engulfed by the lava.

“SAVE HIM!” he screams, voice filled with panic. “I NEED HIS ORIGINAL ROCK.”

He puts Sanha down gently and tries to run back to his son but he is stopped by Hoseok. He grabs Minhyuk by the waist and pulls him towards the forest kicking and screaming. He sobs loudly, trying to fight off Hoseok.

“I need to help him! He’s in pain. Let me go, Hyung!”

He sobs even louder, heartbroken. His son is gone. With blurry, wet vision, he sees Myungjun move closer for a hug. Minhyuk buries his face in his shoulder, still sobbing.

“I’m sorry, Rocky. I’m so, _so_ sorry.”

*

When Jinwoo comes back from the lava empty handed, Minhyuk bursts into tears once again but this time, Myungjun passes him on to Sanha. 

Sanha embraces him immediately and does his best to soothe Minhyuk. He is truly grateful for the younger boy. He wouldn’t know what he would do if Sanha wasn’t there.

After a while, Minhyuk’s tears would no longer fall. It seems like he had none left, even if he wanted to continue crying. He stands up off of the floor and turns to Sanha.

“Come on,” he said, offering his hand to the boy. “Let’s get your ankle looked at.”

“But, hyung… what about you? What about Rocky Jr.?” Sanha asks, worriedly.

“Jinwoo hyung and Myungjun hyung’s father are looking for his rock. There’s nothing I can do for him right now. I could use the distraction anyway.”

Minhyuk heaves Sanha up onto his good leg, then throws his arm over his shoulder to help him stay stable while they walk to the infirmary.

When the pair get to the infirmary, they are told to be patient for a while because the healer has more severe cases to deal with at the moment. They sit in a couple of chairs in the corner of the room and wait.

“Hyung?” Sanha asks in the smallest voice Minhyuk ever heard from him. He turns to look at him, silently asking him to continue speaking.

“You’re gonna be okay… right?”

“I… I don’t know, Sanha,” he answers honestly.

Was he going to be okay? He doesn’t really know how to answer that question right this second. Rocky Jr. is the first rock he ever made. Actually, he is more than just that. He is his best friend, his _son_. Rocky Jr. was his whole world - _is_ his whole world. He feels so empty without him, like a chunk of his heart is ripped right out of his body. Without him… what does Minhyuk have? Sure he has his friends, but he wouldn’t feel right without Rocky Jr. there too. 

He sighs, thinking ‘at least I have my friends… at least I have Sanha.’

A little while later, the infirmary starts to clear out and the healer has a chance to look at Sanha’s ankle after taking a short rest. He heals it rather quickly and the boys are free to go. They walk out arm in arm and head to the library to get some peace and quiet after the horrible and eventful day they’ve had.

“Sanha?”

He looks at Minhyuk and tilts his head, curiously.

“Stay with me?”

Sanha nods and they find a large, comfortable looking reading chair and sit in it together.

Minhyuk closes his eyes with his arms comfortably wrapped around Sanha and relaxes into the warmth he radiates. His final thoughts before he drifts off are ‘I think I’ll be alright as long as I have Sanha. He’s all I need right now.’

*

Minhyuk is abruptly pulled out of his dreamless sleep by a nudge at his shoulder. He whines unhappily, trying to return to that peaceful state and curls further into the warmth next to him. When he unfortunately realizes he’s not going to return to sleep, his eyes flutter open and the next second he freezes before throwing himself out of the chair and waking Sanha up in the process. 

“Wha’s goin’ on?” Sanha asked sleepily, rubbing at his eyes with a little pout. 

‘Cute,’ Minhyuk thinks before blushing furiously at the thought.

“I have some news that might interest you,” Myungjun said, smiling.

Rocky’s eyes snapped towards him. He doesn’t want to get his hopes up too high, but he is still a little hopeful that something good happened. 

“When we left the battledome, I convinced my father to go and look for Rocky Jr. He took Jinwoo with him and they found his original rock.”

Minhyuk’s jaw dropped at the news. “He’s alive?”

Myungjun passed him a note.

**We found the original rock. It was melted down a lot, so I don’t know if it will work.**

He read it over a few times just to be sure he read it correctly the first time. He is so overwhelmed with joy that he bursts into happy tears and launches himself at Myungjun. He cries in relief as Myungjun hugs him and spins him around, laughing happily.

Myungjun lets him go and he engulfs Sanha in a hug next. It surprises him enough that Minhyuk hears him let out a small squeak. It probably would’ve annoyed him if he wasn’t so happy about the news. But maybe he should just let it go for now because Sanha was there for him in his time of need. He pulls back from the hug and places a messy kiss on Sanha’s cheek.

“Thank you for looking after me, Ddana.”

Sanha shrieks, pushing him away. “Ew, Hyung! What the hell?! Why did you do that?”

“I’m happy,” Minhyuk says, shooting Sanha the biggest, brightest grin he possibly could.

“B-but hyung-” Sanha stuttered.

Minhyuk interrupts him excitedly, “I’m going to meet them at the combat center, bye!”

*

As soon as Minhyuk gets to the combat center, his eyes search the place for Jinwoo. He finds him, leaning up against the wall with his eyes closed.

“Hyung!” he shouts, letting him know he was here.

Jinwoo lazily opens one eye, looking in his direction. He smiles, once he sees Minhyuk and waves him over.

Minhyuk jogs lightly to where he is and Jinwoo pulls one hand out of his pocket. In that hand, is Rocky Jr.’s original rock.

Minhyuk bursts into happy tears once again and pulls Jinwoo in for a hug.

“Thank you, Hyung! Thank you, thank you, thank you!”

He carefully takes the little rock out of Jinwoo’s hand.

“Wow, his rock really melted down,” Minhyuk says sadly.

Jinwoo nods, “it took a long time to find him. Almost every rock we picked up looked exactlu the same after the lava cooled. His was the only one that looked different. Like I said in the note, I’m not sure if you can bring him back.”

“I can bring him back. I know it,” Minhyuk says confidently.

He hugs the little rock to his chest, walks over to one of the mats and sits down while Myungjun and Jinwoo talk to Myungjun’s father. He sees Sanha walk over towards him out of the corner of his eye and waits for him to sit down next to him before he reanimates his son.

*

“You ready, Ddana?” 

Sanha starts to turn red, but nods so Minhyuk gets to work. He focuses his magical energy into the little rock and watches as Rocky Jr. starts to take form.

He sees two legs pop out of the bottom of the rock, then two little arms, and then finally the head.

“Hi buddy! Welcome back.” Sanha says to Rocky Jr., squealing at how cute he is.

Rocky Jr. blinks up at Sanha and Minhyuk before running to hug his father’s leg.

“Papa! I missed you,” he says.

Minhyuk smiles fondly and pats his son’s little head gently. “I missed you too, buddy. I thought I’d lost you forever. Now, are you ready to get back to your normal size?” 

Rocky Jr. nods happily, “Yes, papa. I’m ready.” 

Sanha squeals again and Minhyuk chuckles at Sanha’s reaction before focusing more of his magical energy into Rocky Jr. to try and make him his normal size.

When he sees that it’s not really having any effect, he starts to get worried.

“What’s going on?” he thinks out loud.

He tries again, but Rocky Jr. is still the smallest he’s ever been. Minhyuk flops backwards onto the mat from exhaustion. 

“Why is he so small?” he groans out of frustration, watching his son run around the room. He looks over to Sanha to see if he knows but Sanha only shrugs.

“I don’t know hyung, but I think he’s kind of cute,” he giggles as they watch Rocky Jr. get swooped up by Myungjun.

“Hey buddy, we missed you!” He hears Myungjun say to Rocky Jr. before kissing his face and making him laugh.

Minhyuk smiles at the sound and sighs, “I’m worried about him, but if he’s happy and laughing with Myungjun hyung like he is now, then maybe he’ll be okay.”

“You’ll figure out why he’s not growing, Hyung,” Sanha says with a small smile before Rocky Jr. runs back to them.

Rocky Jr. starts to climb on top of Minhyuk’s stomach as soon as he gets there.

Minhyuk laughs, folding his hands behind his head, “do you need a hand there, buddy?”

Rocky Jr. shakes his head, “I can do it, Papa.” He clumsily makes his way up and sits down, facing Sanha.

*

“We’re going now guys, get some sleep,” Minhyuk hears Myungjun say as he carries Jinwoo away on his back.

Sanha waves at them absentmindedly while playing with Rocky Jr. and Minhyuk is too focused on his son to respond.

After a while, he hears Sanha hum thoughtfully.

He raises a curious brow at him.

“If you get to give me a special nickname, I should be able to give you one too,” Sanha says pointing a finger at Minhyuk.

He looks at Sanha, confused “but… I already _have_ a nickname: Rocky.”

Sanha dismisses him, waving his hand, “yeah, but everyone calls you Rocky, hyung. I want something different.”

“Why?” Minhyuk asks him, curiously.

Sanha’s face starts turning red, but he doesn’t answer. 

“How about Hyukkie?” Sanha suggests, clearly avoiding Minhyuk’s question.

“I-I don’t know Sanha,” Minhyuk says unsure.

“Minhyukkie?” Sanha suggests instead.

Minhyuk shakes his head “No… my mother calls me that and that is embarrassing enough, thank you.”

Sanha laughs, “then I’m sticking with Hyukkie. I like it. It’s cute.”

Minhyuk shrugs, rolling his eyes, “whatever, Ddana.” 

Minhyuk is still curious about the sudden need for a new nickname but he lets it go for now because he thinks it's cute, and they both head to bed. Rocky Jr. stumbles clumsily behind Minhyuk as he walks through the forest to his dorm.

**~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~**

Minhyuk sighs, staring out the window of the carriage at the starry night sky as the old man takes him to their third stop on the way home to Zepheholde, “Miss you, Ddana.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> T.T the first part of this chapter hurt my soul to write. Poor babies


	7. Crash Course in Flying Lessons

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Late one Saturday night Minhyuk is hanging out with Bin by the lake. Neither boy had anything to do, so they both decided to camp out at the lake until they fell asleep (or got caught, whichever came first). Bin is talking animatedly about something Dongmin did in their communications class that day when he stops suddenly and stares up at the air directly above Minhyuk’s head. 
> 
> He smirks, pointing up, “you have a message, ‘Hyukkie’.”
> 
> Minhyuk groans, hiding his suddenly warm face in his hands out of embarrassment, “this is even worse than what mother calls me.”
> 
> Bin laughs, handing him Sanha’s note he snatched out of the air.

“Are you okay, son?” Minhyuk hears the driver ask him the next morning. He blinks, looking up at the old man before shaking his head.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Just thinking,” he smiles sadly.

“You seem to be doing that a lot, lately: staring out into space and thinking,” the driver says observantly.

“Yes,” Minhyuk sighs, “My best friend, who I care very deeply for, just disappeared suddenly back in May. I miss him terribly and I also miss my family just as much. I’m going back home to Zepheholde for a bit to see them before going to look for him.

The older gentleman smiles sympathetically, “good luck, son. I hope you find him in the end.”

Minhyuk smiles gratefully before the two head out once again.

‘I hope I find him too.’

**~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~**

Lunch time at the academy is eventful again today as usual. Myungjun brought in fresh strawberries he grew in his garden and everyone at the table devoured them in minutes.

Sanha, the baby that he is, screams when he sees Jinwoo and Myungjun kissing. Minhyuk rolls his eyes at him and instead focuses on his practical skills homework that he just can’t seem to perfect yet.

He’s been so worried recently about Rocky Jr’s growth stunt that it’s hard for him to concentrate in class. Mr. Ahn even called him out on it one day after class.

_“Rocky, what’s going on? You’re usually very focused during class. What’s on your mind?” his instructor asked._

_Minhyuk sighed, “It’s Rocky Jr. He’s so small and won’t grow no matter how much magical energy I give him. I don’t know what to do to make him bigger again.”_

_Mr. Ahn grunts in thought, “A magical companion feeds off of your emotions, Rocky, not just your magical energy, remember that. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have another class to prepare for.”_

Now, Minhyuk takes a deep breath, pushing his worrying thoughts about his son out of his mind for the moment and focuses his magical energy into the medium sized stone in his hand, visualizing the crystals in his mind.

He hears Rocky Jr. clap excitedly on the table in front of him and that gives him the courage to keep going. After a few more seconds, he stops and breaks the rock in two. He cheers happily when he finally sees that a bright blue crystal grew inside of the stone.

“What are you doing, Rocky?” Myungjun asks. He looks up at him, smiling, and shows him the pretty blue crystal he just grew inside of the rock.

Myungjun gasps, “how did you do that?”

Minhyuk smiles, “we’ve been learning how to make crystals and gemstones in class. This is the first time I’ve managed to make one without help,” he said excitedly.

Myungjun coos at him and ruffles his hair. He frowns briefly before fixing his hair and focusing his attention back onto his son.

*

Late one Saturday night Minhyuk is hanging out with Bin by the lake. Neither boy had anything to do, so they both decide to camp out at the lake until they fall asleep (or get caught, whichever comes first). Bin is talking animatedly about something Dongmin did in their communications class that day when he stops suddenly and stares up at the air directly above Minhyuk’s head. 

He smirks, pointing up, “you have a message, ‘Hyukkie’.”

Minhyuk groans, hiding his suddenly warm face in his hands out of embarrassment, “this is even worse than what mother calls me.”

Bin laughs, handing him Sanha’s note he snatched out of the air.

**Myungjun Hyung suggested I get help with my flying classes and you were the first person I thought of because I know you have really good control with your magic. Help! - Ddana T.T**

Minhyuk sighs, rolling his eyes, “this kid is going to drive me up the wall.”

He writes: **I may have good control but I don’t have air magic, dummy. I don’t know if I can help you -.-**

He summons a rock around the note when he finishes writing and sends it back to Sanha.

Bin, still giggling, says “come on Rocky, it can’t be that bad.”

“What do you mean it can’t be that bad, hyung? I don’t have air magic. How am I supposed to help him?”

Bin smirks again as another note floats in the air by his head.

**PLEEEEEEASE Hyukkie!**

Minhyuk can feel Sanha’s pout through his message and as a result, feel himself giving into it.

He looks to Bin suspiciously, “You look like you have an idea. I don’t know if I’m going to like this idea you have yet or not.”

“You may not have air magic, but you do know someone who does… someone you’re very close to… Minhyukkie,” Bin says slyly.

“What? My MOTHER?!” Minhyuk shouts.

Bin nods, “she’d be perfect to help you give him pointers. Think about it.”

As much as Minhyuk hates to admit it, Bin is right. She would be perfect to ask.

He writes back to Sanha once more:

**-_- fine. I’ll help you.**

“I’ll send mother a note in the morning. It’s too late to send her one now,” he decides before closing his eyes and drifting off, listening to the soft snores of his son and the pleasant chirps of crickets echoing around him.

Early the next morning, Minhyuk wakes up to his son running around by the lake, laughing. He scoops him up in one arm, shushing him “hey, buddy, be quiet until we get to the dorm, okay? We don’t want Grove to catch us now.”

This quiets the little rock down and he looks up at Minhyuk apologetically, “sorry Papa.”

He kisses the top of his little stony head, as a way of letting him know it was alright. Then, the two of them head back to the dorm to get ready for breakfast before his meditation class.

*

**Eomma! I need your help.**

Minhyuk magically encloses the message in one of his hollow rocks and thinks of his mother. It sinks into the ground.

He sees a note floating above his head a few minutes later.

**What’s wrong Minhyukkie? Do I need to come to the academy?**

Minhyuk laughs at his mother’s worried response.

**No, mother. Don’t worry. I’m fine, everything’s fine. I’m asking for help for a... friend? He is an air magic user like you but honestly, he’s not very good at it. He’s really having a hard time with his flying lessons and asked me for help.**

He sends it off, playing the waiting game once again.

 **Interesting…** his mother replies.

 **What do you mean, “interesting”? Help me please, eomma~!** He begs. 

**Well, Minhyukkie… flying is mostly mind over matter. In order for the air magic user to fly, they need to find their inner balance. How balanced do you think your friend is?** She asks.

He replies: **T.T not very balanced at all. He used to fall all the time when he was younger; he still does occasionally, but it’s not nearly as bad as it was before he came to the academy, from what I’ve been told.**

She responds quickly: **well, that’s the first step. Once he’s mastered that, everything else will fall into place. He should be able to embrace the air and allow himself to be embraced by the air. He shouldn’t fight it.**

Minhyuk sighs, “this may be harder than I thought.”

He sends a quick thanks back to his mother before running off to go find Sanha.

*

A few days later, after both of their classes were done for the day, Minhyuk agreed to meet Sanha in the forest where their zoology classes usually meet.

Minhyuk hears when Sanha arrives before he sees him thanks to his son’s happy shout of “Ddana!” from on top of his shoulder.

When Minhyuk turns to look at Sanha, he notices that Sanha seems nervous. Minhyuk doesn't understand why. Sanha has nothing to be nervous about. It's just going to be the three of them, after all.

Minhyuk smiles, “let’s see what you got, Sanha.”

Sanha shakes his head, “it’s really bad, hyung. It’s so bad, it’s embarrassing,” he whines.

“Ddana, you don’t have anything to be embarrassed about here with me,” Minhyuk reassures him.

“You won’t make fun of me?” Sanha asks with a pout.

Minhyuk shakes his head, “No, I won’t make fun of you. Not when I’m trying to help you.”

“You promise?”

Minhyuk nods, “I promise.” 

“But hyung, I can’t even get up into the air most of the time and when I do, I’m not stable at all. It’s like something’s wrong with me,” Sanha looks down to the ground, sadly.

“Then let’s start from scratch, okay?”

Sanha looks up at Minhyuk, “Start from scratch? Are you serious? That’s gonna take forever, Hyung. How do you even know what to teach me?” he asks, skeptically.

Minhyuk sighs, “My mother has air magic like you. I sent her messages the other day asking her about flying after you asked me for help. She told me the most important parts about flying.”

Sanha’s eyes widened, “is that why you didn’t tease me when everyone else was making fun of me at lunch that time?”

Minhyuk smiles sympathetically but doesn’t answer, “come on, let’s get started.”

*

“The first thing you need to do is relax.” 

Minhyuk takes a deep breath in, holds it for a few seconds and then lets it out as a demonstration for what he wants Sanha to do. 

“You’re too tense, Ddana. Breathe with me, okay? I promise it will help you.”

Sanha scowls at him briefly, but then listens to what he says. Minhyuk can see the moment he relaxes.

“Now, my mother said the most important part about flying is finding your inner balance,” Minhyuk says.

Sanha scoffs, “easier said than done, Hyung.”

Minhyuk rolls his eyes at Sanha’s comment, “shut up, Sanha. I’m trying to help you, remember?”

Sanha glares at him, but says nothing else.

“Now, relax, and try finding your inner balance,” Minhyuk says in the calmest voice.

A few seconds later, he feels a rush of air around him and he sees Sanha start to levitate off of the ground just a little bit. But then, he falls to his knees, exhausted.

Rocky Jr. claps his stony fists together happily and Minhyuk smiles, “well done, Sanha. I think that’s enough for today. Let’s pick this up again next week, yeah?”

Sanha nods, too tired to speak. Rocky Jr. runs over to him and tries to pull him up off the ground.

Sanha laughs, “no buddy. I can’t… ‘M too tired. I’ll get up in a few minutes.”

*

Minhyuk wakes up the morning of results day anxious. He hopes he did well in all of his classes. He worked really hard despite the events of the battledome that year.

He lines up with the other earth elemental students and waits to get his results. When Grove sees that he’s next, he smiles, “Hello, Rocky. I believe these are yours.” He hands Minhyuk two scrolls when he only expected to get one. He moves off to the side to read it. When he sees that he did well in all of his courses, he moves onto the second scroll: the one that surprised him.

PARK MINHYUK, EARTH ELEMENTAL- GROUND MANIPULATION VARIETY

AFTER CAREFUL CONSIDERATION ABOUT YOUR GRADES AND RECENT SUCCESS WITH HELPING ONE YOON SANHA IMPROVE IN HIS FLYING CLASSES ON TOP OF YOUR OWN COURSES, I AM DELIGHTED TO OFFER YOU A PLACE IN OUR INTENSIVE WEAPONS TRAINING COURSE THAT IS BEING HELD OVER THE SUMMER.

THIS COURSE IS BEING OFFERED TO ONLY FOUR STUDENTS AND YOU HAVE BEEN SELECTED AS ONE OF THE CANDIDATES AFTER PROVING YOURSELF SUCCESSFULLY THIS PAST YEAR.

YOU WILL BE TRAINED IN THE USE OF NEW WEAPONRY AND INTENSE COMBAT SKILLS AMONG OTHER THINGS.

CONGRATULATIONS!

GROVE

Minhyuk is confused. He turns to Grove, “Excuse me sir, I don’t believe I really deserve this scroll.”

Grove pauses what he’s doing and turns to Minhyuk, “oh, yes you do. Yoon Sanha passed the flying portion of his exam because of what you were able to teach him. Zephyr told me herself. She was very impressed because he seemed like a lost cause until you came into the picture. After spending a few nights with you after classes, (yes we know, which is why you were never punished for returning to your dorms late those nights), his flying abilities have greatly improved,” he explained.

Minhyuk’s jaw dropped, “he passed? That’s great!” He heard Rocky Jr. cheer at his feet.

Grove nodded, “your ability to teach seems natural, which is why Zephyr and I both agree that you are fit for this summer course. It is well deserved.”

Minhyuk can’t help the smile spreading across his face, “thank you sir, I won’t disappoint you.”

He bows politely for added measure, then picks up Rocky Jr. who's at his feet and walks off to go find his mother and tell her the good news.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> YES!!! HE PASSED! HE PASSED! T.T
> 
> *Cue proud parent moment*


	8. Feelings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Hyung?,” he asks, trying to get Jinwoo’s attention. Both Jinwoo and Hoseok look his way once again since he spaced out for so long.
> 
> “Does Rocky Jr look bigger to you too? Or is it just me. I swear he looks bigger than he did a few minutes ago. He feels a little heavier, too,” he says, wondering if he’s going crazy.
> 
> Both Jinwoo and Hoseok shrug and shake their heads, “Sorry Rocky. He looks the same to me.”

Minhyuk finds his mother a little while later standing off to the side, talking to Bin.

“Ahhh there’s my Minhyukkie,” she says as soon as she spots him.

Minhyuk walks over slowly, embarrassed, while Bin chuckles and Rocky Jr. laughs in his hands.

“I still don’t know why you’re embarrassed by this name, Rocky. It’s just me,” Bin says, shrugging.

“I’m lucky it’s just you. If it were anyone else, I think I would be more embarrassed about it,” Minhyuk mumbles.

Bin smirks, “you mean if it were Sanha?”

“Shut up,” he hisses at Bin.

“ANYWAY… Eomma, look at this,” Minhyuk says, showing his mother the scrolls he received from Grove a while ago while Bin wanders off to go find Frost.

She looks at his grades, then skims over the letter quickly, a smile slowly spreading across her face.

“I’m so happy for you, Minhyukkie! Congratulations!” she exclaims, squeezing him tight.

“Thanks, Eomma. But, this means I can’t come home with you to see Minseokkie and Father.”

She sighs, “I know, Minhyukkie. But this is a great opportunity for you. I know you and Binnie loved to play-fight when you were younger. And according to your report scroll, you did extremely well in your combat and weapons training course this past year. Your father and brother will understand when I take these scrolls home to them. Don’t worry.”

Minhyuk smiles at his mother with tears in his eyes, “Thanks, Eomma.”

She wipes his eyes dry before suggesting they both get something to eat so she can go rest for the night before she has to go back home the next morning.

*

Intensive weapons training has definitely been…. intense so far: much more so than Minhyuk expected it to be. He is learning so much, so fast and it’s only been two weeks since the course started.

He’s first learned how to use all of the weapons himself. That is probably the most challenging, but also most fun part so far for Minhyuk. He knows that by the end of the summer, he probably will have a ton of scars all over his body because of this, but he knows it’ll be worth it. No pain is no gain, after all.

Today, Hoseok, Jinwoo, Mark and Minhyuk have their first test as potential student teachers. Jinwoo and Minhyuk were recently taught how to work with Shurikens effectively and Hoseok and Mark were taught how to work with a bow and arrow effectively. Two of them have to successfully instruct the other two with how to effectively use each weapon.

“These,” Minhyuk says after holding up a small star-shaped blade in his hand, “are called shurikens or ‘throwing stars.’ They are very small but very sharp. They are used mainly as a secondary weapon, kind of like a throwing knife or a pair of daggers, so you wouldn’t use these every time you went into battle.”

Minhyuk smirks as Jinwoo throws the shuriken like a frisbee without even looking and it hits the dummy, sticking out of the wooden surface.

“Let’s get started,” Minhyuk says as he claps excitedly.

*

After their successful session today, three of the four boys all sit on one of the mats in the combat center and talk.

“Have you heard from Junnie at all Hoseok?,” Jinwoo asks. “I sent him a message a few days ago but he hasn’t yet responded to me.”

“Huh, that’s weird. Usually he responds to you right away,” Hoseok says.

“Yeah, I know. I’m getting worried. What if something happened to him?”

Minhyuk pats him on the shoulder, smiling gently “it’ll be okay, Hyung. I’m sure he has his reasons. He’ll get back to you soon, I can feel it.”

“Who?” Mark asks, joining the three on the mat after putting their weapons back on the rack.

“My boyfriend,” Jinwoo says, smiling. “I haven’t heard from him in a while when I normally hear from him every day.”

“Oh, I see,” Mark sighs. “I wish I knew what that was like… being in a relationship with someone.”

Minhyuk laughs, “I don’t. I have my son, Rocky Jr. He’s all I need right now,” he says, smiling down at the little rock seated in his lap.

Hoseok huffs, “Oh please, Rocky. There has to be someone you like at least a _little_ bit.”

Minhyuk thinks for a moment. The first person that crosses his mind is Sanha. Sanha is the one who was with him at his darkest moments last year when he thought he lost his son forever. Sanha is the one that makes Minhyuk laugh and smile the most out of all of their friends. He’s the only one that is able to make Minhyuk’s heart race like it did at the tavern. Only Sanha.

Minhyuk can’t help the small grin that walks across his face with all his thoughts of Sanha.

He shakes his head, snapping himself out of his Sanha daze and looks down at his son again. He notices that Rocky Jr looks a little bigger than he did before.

“Hyung?,” he asks, trying to get Jinwoo’s attention. Both Jinwoo and Hoseok look his way once again since he spaced out for so long.

“Does Rocky Jr look bigger to you too? Or is it just me. I swear he looks bigger than he did a few minutes ago. He feels a little heavier, too,” he says, wondering if he’s going crazy.

Both Jinwoo and Hoseok shrug and shake their heads, “Sorry Rocky. He looks the same to me.”

*

Minhyuk can’t be going crazy. He is positive Rocky Jr grew.

“Buddy, please tell me I’m not going crazy,” he begs the little rock once the two of them get back to their dorm in the forest.

“You’re not going crazy, Papa. I did grow a little bit before. I felt it,” Rocky Jr assures him.

Minhyuk sighs in relief at this. Then he gets curious, “why didn’t you say anything?”

Rocky Jr frowns, “sorry, Papa. You were thinking about Ddana. I know he makes you happy because he makes me happy too. I didn’t want to interrupt.”

Minhyuk scratches the top of Rocky Jr’s stony head affectionately.

“Even if I _was_ thinking about Sanha, you should tell me when these things happen. You know how worried I’ve been because you weren’t growing,” he says.

The little rock looks up at Minhyuk, his bottom lip quivering, “I’m really sorry Papa. I’ll let you know everything that happens from now on, I promise.”

Minhyuk picks up Rocky Jr and gives him a hug, whispering “thank you, buddy.”

He freezes suddenly, “wait a minute, you grew when I was thinking about Sanha?”

Rocky Jr nods, “I felt it myself. I know you were thinking about Ddana and I know you like him even though you say he annoys you because I can read your mind so don’t deny it, Papa.”

Minhyuk sighs, “You’re right, buddy. I do like him… but I feel like I shouldn’t. He’s supposed to be like another annoying little brother to me. That’s what he feels like most of the time, because that’s what he is to everyone else in our friend group. He’s supposed to be whiny and easy to tease, which he is most of the time. There are only a few times when he’s truly surprised me. But, I shouldn’t let those get to me.”

“Why not, Papa?”

“Because he’s the baby,” Minhyuk exhales, closing his eyes and resting his hand over his eyes. “It feels wrong to like him that way, buddy.”

*

“You ready for combat training?” Jinwoo asks Myungjun excitedly as they’re sitting across the table from Minhyuk eating dinner.

Myungjun nods, “I’ve been waiting all day for the special announcement. It better be good, Park Jinwoo.”

“It _is_ good Hyung,” Minhyuk says from his own seat, feeling just as pumped as Jinwoo is.

He watches as his son excitedly runs around the tabletop, making the plates and silverware shake. He knocks over a water glass in his stampede around the table, and Sanha reaches over to pick him up with one hand.

“Someone needs to calm down,” Sanha scolds him gently. Minhyuk watches him use his free hand to pick up the empty glass while Jinwoo steams the table dry. Sanha continues to hold his son in his lap until he and the others finish their dinners.

Once Myungjun finishes eating, Jinwoo and Minhyuk stand up to leave with him so they can all go to class together. Sanha passes Rocky Jr back over to Minhyuk and Rocky Jr fights and squirms in his grip trying with all of his might to get back to him.

“Papa, I don’t wanna go. I wanna stay with Ddana,” he whines.

‘I know, buddy… me too.’

“You can’t stay with me. You have to go to class,” Sanha said to the little rock, gently scratching the top of his head with a smile.

“If Rocky stays after class today, I’ll come down and see you, okay?” He says, trying to get Rocky Jr to behave.

He nods his little head up to Sanha and then asks Minhyuk, “Papa, please? Please can we stay after class tonight?”

His eyes are wide and glassy as he gives off the best puppy dog pout he can make.

Minhyuk sighs, feeling himself giving in, “fine. I’ll be there after class. See you later, I guess.”

Rocky Jr cheers in his hands as he heads off to the combat center following Myungjun and Jinwoo.

*

“Hey Hyukkie. Can I come in?,” Minhyuk hears from the entrance to the combat center.

He is so focused on cleaning up from the first lesson tonight that he whips his head around in surprise at the sound of Sanha’s voice.

“Uhhh, yeah sure Sanha. Class is over and Myungjun and Jinwoo Hyung just left, so it’s just me here,” Minhyuk shrugs.

“And me, Papa. Don’t forget about me!” Rocky Jr says from his seat on the top of Minhyuk’s head.

“Oh, and Rocky Jr…” he says, after his son corrects him.

Sanha giggles, making Minhyuk’s heart do a weird somersault in his chest. He feels his ears start to burn.

“Where are the instructors?” Sanha asks, curiously, “usually they’re here after class, right?”

Minhyuk chuckles, “I’m guessing you haven’t had your first combat and weapons training session this year yet, right?”

Sanha shakes his head, “no. I have mine tomorrow morning.”

“Well, I may as well tell you now, since it’s not gonna be that long until you’re supposed to know,” Minhyuk sighs.

Sanha looks at him, confused. 

Minhyuk smirks, “You’re looking at half of the instructors for this class, Sanha.”

Sanha’s eyes widened in surprise, “You? _You’re_ teaching this class?”

Minhyuk nods, “mmmhm. There is one instructor for each basic element, Earth, Water, Fire and Air. I am the Earth instructor. I’ll give you one guess as to who the fire instructor is,” he smirks.

He can’t help but coo internally at how cute Sanha looks thinking _hard_ for a few moments until he gasps, “Jinwoo Hyung!!!”

Minhyuk scoffs, “took you long enough. He’s the only fire magic user we both know super well.”

Sanha pouts, crossing his arms in front of his chest before he freezes, “but wait. Who’s teaching my class tomorrow, then?”

“That, I’ll let you find out on your own,” Minhyuk says.

“But Hyukkie~! That’s so mean,” Sanha whines. Minhyuk shrugs, “Sorry Sanha.”

Sanha pouts, “Please, Hyukkie?” with eyes big and bottom lip jutted out as far as it can go.

It suspiciously reminds him of the one his son used on him earlier that evening. Minhyuk doesn’t fall for it this time (he comes pretty close though), “No, Ddana.”

Sanha grumbles “not fair,” and sulks. The two of them walk out of the combat center. Rocky Jr is safe in Sanha’s hands, however, so he doesn’t sulk for too long. 

*

A few weeks have passed. It’s almost October. The semester is in full swing, the leaves have started falling, and everyone is busy, busy, busy.

Today in the combat center, Minhyuk and Jinwoo are instructing their friends and other classmates on how to properly use a bow and arrow.

For these first couple of classes with the new weapons, Jinwoo and Minhyuk will be teaching the others the simplest kind of archery, target archery. They have an area outside dedicated entirely to the combat center for the teachers to use however they’d like so Minhyuk and Jinwoo made sure the targets were set up correctly while Rocky Jr made sure there were enough bows and arrows for everyone. 

“Are you excited for this lesson, hyung?” He asks Jinwoo, picking his son up off the ground and placing him on top of his head, “You did the best out of all four of us when we were learning this over the summer. Mark and Hoseok even said so themselves after they taught us.”

Jinwoo bashfully nods, “yes. I’ve been helping Junnie get ready for this outside of class. Just helping him build up his upper body strength so he can use his own bow which is a lot heavier than these wooden ones.”

Minhyuk deadpans, “that’s cheating, hyung. He’s going to have an advantage now over everyone else in the class.”

Jinwoo shrugs, making Minhyuk roll his eyes, ‘not supposed to show favoritism, hyung.’

He hears Rocky Jr giggling up in his hair at the thought.

Soon enough, the class arrives and Jinwoo and Minhyuk start their first archery lesson.

“Today, we all start something new. That’s why we’re out here instead of in the combat center,” Jinwoo explains, pacing back and forth in front of the rest of the class.

“Yes. As you can probably tell from the way everything is set up, we’re starting archery today,” Minhyuk smiles.

“Everyone go grab a bow and then we’ll show you how to properly hold and fire with it,” Jinwoo gestures to the rack of bows off to the side.

“Do you want to do the honors, Rocky?” Jinwoo asks. Minhyuk knows he’s talking about the demonstration and nods, “sure, Hyung! If that’s okay with you.”

Rocky Jr pops out of his hair at the top of his head, excited to watch.

Minhyuk makes sure he is standing straight, with feet shoulder width apart. He lines up his bow with the target in front of him. Then, he grabs an arrow out of the ground in front of him and pulls the string back slowly with the arrow in hand. He makes sure his arrow is lined up and he is just about ready to release when he hears his son gasp loudly from the top of his head. 

Rocky Jr shouts, “DDAAAANA!!!!” completely distracting Minhyuk, making him fire the arrow without accounting for wind resistance, so the arrow completely misses the target. Rocky Jr hops down off of his head and runs across the field as fast as his stubby little legs will take him.

“Hey, get back here!” Minhyuk shouts to him. His attempt is futile, though. He knows Rocky Jr won’t listen to him when Sanha’s so close. He groans, letting his head roll back as his cheeks burn in embarrassment. 

‘Why? Why now?’


	9. Ddana needs help... again

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It’s late one evening, Minhyuk is hanging out by the lake with Bin as they usually do, and he sees a small note appear out of thin air and fly by the side of his face.
> 
> 'Hyukkie! Help me study for demonology pleeeease!! T.T'
> 
> Minhyuk sighs at Sanha’s note, rolling his eyes.
> 
> He writes back:'Can’t you ever do anything yourself?' enclosing it in a hollow rock before sending it back off to Sanha.

Minhyuk hears Sanha and Rocky Jr both giggling together as he and Jinwoo finish up their lesson for the day. Once they both dismiss class and clean everything up, Minhyuk walks over to where Sanha is seated off to the side under a tree, innocently playing with Rocky Jr in his lap. He smiles fondly at the two, enjoying the sounds of both Sanha’s and his son’s laughter before he realizes what he’s doing and comes back to his senses.

‘Stop it, Minhyuk. He’s like your little brother. Don’t let him get to you.’

He clears his throat, successfully gaining Sanha’s attention, “y’know Sanha... I really should thank you.”

“What for?” Sanha asks absentmindedly as he lays down on the grass and starts playing airplane with Rocky Jr.

Minhyuk sits down next to the two of them with a big sigh, “for helping me get the opportunity to teach with Jinwoo Hyung.”

Sanha scoffs in disbelief, “how the hell did I do that?”

Instead of answering, Minhyuk responds with his own question, “why didn’t you tell me you passed the flying portion of your last exam? I had to find out from Grove,” he mumbles, feeling hurt.

Sanha’s eyes widen and Minhyuk hears him gasp quietly.

“I didn’t think it would matter…” Sanha shrugs.

“You didn’t think it would matter? Ddana, I spent _so_ long helping you with your flying lessons last semester. I didn’t have to help you. I could’ve just ignored your notes and let you fail but I didn’t. I helped you because it was the right thing to do… because you helped me, and you didn’t think it would matter to tell me you passed? I thought we were friends,” Minhyuk spits out bitterly.

“I.. I’m sorry, hyung. I should’ve told you when I got my grades,” Sanha apologizes, earnestly.

Minhyuk sighs, “anyway, when you asked me to help you with your flying lessons, I agreed to it. Both Grove and Zephyr were so impressed by us- by your success at the end of the semester, that they recommended me for the summer program to learn how to teach one of my personal favorite courses. So, thank you Sanha,” Minhyuk mumbles, smiling softly in his direction.

Sanha looks up at him, with a look he can’t quite comprehend, before turning his attention back to Rocky Jr.

The next thing Minhyuk knows, Sanha’s head is warm in his lap and Rocky Jr. is running off, trying to catch a bug. Minhyuk looks down at Sanha after watching his son run around happily. He is thoroughly confused as soon as he feels the odd sensation.

“What are you doing, Sanha?”

The other boy shrugs, “I got tired of lying in the grass.”

Minhyuk rolls his eyes at the lame excuse, “get up, Ddana,” he says shaking the leg closest to him.

Sanha whines, “No~ I’m comfy here. Let me rest for a bit. Please, Hyukkie?”

Sanha pouts up at Minhyuk, and he gives in to it this time, sighing, “fine. But only for a little bit. I don’t want to be out here all night.”

The three of them end up staying out a lot later than Minhyuk wanted…

*

“Papa, can I go with Ddana to the party?” Rocky Jr asks, pouting up at Minhyuk as he’s putting his tiger costume on.

“You know we’re all going together, you, me and Ddana. Right, buddy?” Minhyuk says, putting the finishing touches on his son’s little costume. He makes two little white crystal ears that sparkle when the light hits them just right and gives him six little whiskers, three on each side of his stony little face.

“I know, but I wanted to stay with Ddana the whole time. I miss him.”

Minhyuk won’t admit it out loud, but he agrees with Rocky Jr. He misses Sanha too.

“Well, you’re about to see him in a few minutes. You ready to go, buddy?” Minhyuk asks. The little rock nods excitedly, “let’s go, Papa!”

*

“Come on, Sanha! We’re gonna be late to the hallow’s eve party because of you,” Minhyuk shouts as Sanha’s putting his part of their costume on.

“I’m coming, hyung. I’ll need help with my makeup though. I like how you did Rocky Jr’s and want something like it,” Sanha answers back. Minhyuk blushes at the praise but shakes it off before Sanha sees. 

When Sanha comes out of the bathroom, with Rocky Jr sitting on top of his head, right in between his two crystal tiger ears, he hands Minhyuk the face painting kit and sits on Minhyuk’s bed waiting for him to start.

*

“Ddana, stop moving. I can’t put on your whiskers if you keep fidgeting,” Minhyuk sighs.

Sanha giggles, “Sorry, hyung. It just really tickles.” Another giggle.

Minhyuk rolls his eyes but eventually is able to finish.

“Alright, you’re finished. They’re a little crooked since you moved so much, but it’s the best I could do. Now let’s go. It’s really late,” Minhyuk says, pulling Sanha out of his dorm room and all the way to the party.

*

It isn’t long before the three of them get to the party. Sanha insisted they all enter together, but Minhyuk thought it would be safer (and easier on his heart) if they didn’t walk in so close together. Sanha grumbles but agrees, happy just to have Rocky Jr hiding safe in his hair.

When they open the doors, they’re immediately greeted by the always loud and happy Myungjun, “took you long enough to get here!”

Minhyuk can barely hear him over the music, “We’ve been here for ages!”

“Sorry!” He shouts back. “It took a while to paint Sanha’s face. He squirms a lot.”

“It’s because it tickled!” Sanha whines, scrunching his nose up like a bunny’s.

Rocky Jr poked his head out from his hiding spot in Sanha’s hair and Minhyuk smiled at how Myungjun fawned over his cute little ears and whiskers, “He looks so cute!”

Rocky Jr giggled happily, “thanks, it was my idea for us all to match.”

While Myungjun scratched the little rock boy under the chin, Minhyuk noticed Jinwoo looking in their direction. He points to Myungjun and Minhyuk nods, understanding. “Your boyfriend wants you,” he says pointing over Myungjun’s shoulder to where Jinwoo was waiting.

‘Now, where’s Bin hyung. He told me he would be here, tonight.’ Minhyuk thinks, walking off in search of his best friend.

*

It’s late one evening, Minhyuk is hanging out by the lake with Bin as they usually do, and he sees a small note appear out of thin air and fly by the side of his face.

**Hyukkie! Help me study for demonology pleeeease!! T.T**

Minhyuk sighs at Sanha’s note, rolling his eyes. He writes back:

**Can’t you ever do anything yourself?**

Enclosing it in a hollow rock before sending it back off to Sanha.

Bin laughs, “what does he need now?”

Minhyuk scoffs, “help with his demonology homework. I guess someone told him about our surprise quiz from earlier, so he’s freaking out about it. It was probably Myungjun hyung. He can never keep his mouth shut,” he mumbles.

**> _< That hurt, hyung. I came to you because you already took the quiz so I thought you could help me prepare for my own. **

Bin cackles, “so, you’re going to help him?”

Minhyuk shrugs, “yeah, I guess. It’s only demonology, after all. This is nothing compared to last year.”

**Meanie ( ˃̶͈ ̯ ̜ ˂̶͈ˊ ) ︠³**

Minhyuk groans, letting his head fall to his palms.

“This kid…” he mumbles.

**Fine… I’ll help you, I guess. It’s just demonology, anyway ┐(￣ヘ￣)┌**

Sanha sent back a happy, cheering face followed by:

**Thank you, hyukkie ( ˘ ³˘)**

Minhyuk feels his face quickly warm up before he crumples the last note up and stuffs it in his pocket. He makes sure Rocky Jr is safe in his usual spot on top of his head then he gets ready to go.

‘When did I become this kid’s personal tutor?’ he thinks, walking off to now go meet Sanha.

*

“Ddana~” Minhyuk says in a sing-songy voice as he pokes Sanha’s nose with the blunt end of his writing utensil. Sanha scrunches his nose up reflexively, whining in his sleep.

He barely opens his eyes, just enough so he can squint at Minhyuk. That’s all the energy he seems to have anyway, according to Minhyuk. Sanha just shakes his head, rolling it the other way, so he’s not disturbed.

“Sanha…” Minhyuk sighs, exasperated.

“I don’t believe this,” Minhyuk thinks out loud, “he begs me to help him study and he falls asleep because he’s bored.”

He looks over at Rocky Jr to see if he has anything to say but he just shrugs “I got nothin’, Papa.”

Minhyuk looks back over at Sanha and stands up quietly so as to not disturb him. He pulls his jacket off of his body and gently rests it on Sanha’s shoulders. He walks around to Sanha’s other side, smiling at the way he can easily fall asleep anywhere, like Bin. He isn’t surprised to hear soft snores coming from his pouty lips, “keep an eye on him, buddy,” he says to Rocky Jr. 

“I’m gonna go work on my own demonology homework a few tables over, okay?” Rocky Jr nods, saluting his father.

Minhyuk snorts at how goofy his son can be sometimes. He wanders away after he sees Rocky Jr start crawling into his favorite spot in Sanha’s fluffy hair.

*

Minhyuk is in his own world, busy writing down notes from his textbook for himself (and for Sanha). He is sitting cross legged on top of the library table with his books surrounding him when he hears “why is Rocky Jr with Sanha and not you?”

This surprises Minhyuk enough that he needs a second to recover after he hears Myungjun ask the question. He didn’t want to admit to Myungjun that he liked the boy, so he shrugs, “dunno. Rocky Jr seems to like him. I don’t know why, Sanha’s an annoying brat.”

He quickly returns to his work, writing down more notes from his textbook for Sanha to copy when he wakes up later.

“Rocky, you do realise Rocky Jr is an extension of yourself.”

Minhyuk hums in acknowledgement. ‘Yeah, I know,’ he thinks. He turns to the next page, hoping Myungjun gets the hint he doesn’t want to talk about it right now.

“Which means Rocky Jr feels whatever you feel...” Minhyuk mentally rolls his eyes at Myungjun.

“What about it, Hyung? I’m a bit busy right now.”

He hears Myungjun sigh, “never mind. I’ll leave you to it.”

Minhyuk stops writing to listen for when Myungjun completely walks away, before dropping his writing utensil and letting out a low, quiet groan. He flops backward down onto the table, not caring that he’s lying on top of textbooks. He huffs, mumbling “I know I like him, hyung. I don’t want to, but I can’t help it.”

He sits up, hops off of the table and heads back to where Sanha and Rocky Jr are. He watches them from afar for a few moments as Rocky Jr is gently patting Sanha’s head with one of his stony fists, smiling to himself at the sight. 

‘Maybe you can love him enough for both of us, buddy’ he thinks.

He whispers to Rocky Jr, “how is he doing? Has he woken up yet?”

“No, Papa,” Rocky Jr says shaking his head, “he’s out like a light.”

Minhyuk thinks for a minute. He doesn’t really want to wake up Sanha because he looks so peaceful, but he doesn’t want the kid to stay asleep in the library all night. He decides to nudge the other boy’s shoulder gently a few times, hoping shaking him is enough to wake him.

He gets a long whine out of Sanha after a few good shakes.

“Sanha, wake up. It’s getting late. You don’t want to stay in the library all night, do you?”

Sanha hums, questioningly, opening up one eye to look at Minhyuk. Minhyuk takes this as an invitation to start tugging on Sanha. He grabs the boy’s wrists and pulls gently, trying to get him to sit up straight. He succeeds, with a mild tantrum from Sanha, “I was so comfy, Hyung.”

While Sanha pouts, Minhyuk is busy putting his jacket that fell off of Sanha’s shoulders when he was trying to get him up, back on. He chuckles at Sanha’s attempts and hands him the notes he took while Sanha was sleeping.

Sanha takes them slowly, “what’s this?” he asks.

“This is for your quiz tomorrow. You’re welcome.”

Minhyuk looks at Rocky Jr who popped out of Sanha’s hair again and gestures for him to come with.

Rocky Jr pouts, mumbling “bye Ddana,” before he’s plucked out of Sanha’s hair by his father.

“See you tomorrow, Sanha,” Minhyuk says, turning away and walking back to his dorm for the night.

**~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~**

Minhyuk pulls out Rocky Jr’s rock from his pocket (he always has it with him) and sighs, smiling sadly.

“I do miss Sanha a lot, but I miss you more, buddy,” he suddenly sees a wet spot on the small rock and realizes he’s crying when he sees more tears a few seconds later.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter will be a special chapter because it’s the 10th one and I honestly didn’t think I would get that far with this fic so thank you everyone who is reading this it means so much to me T.T


	10. Minhyuk Vs. Sanha

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Ddana, wait!” Minhyuk shouts when he’s in earshot of Sanha.
> 
> Sanha turns to him angrily, hissing “what.”
> 
> “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t be so mean to you all the time. It was wrong of me, I know,” Minhyuk apologizes.
> 
> Sanha gives him a blank look, “if this apology is just so I will be your partner, you can keep it. I don’t want it.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In honor of Rocky's birthday, I'm posting my next chapter ＾.＾
> 
> Like I said at the end of last chapter, this one is very special because it's the tenth chapter. Enjoy!

Minhyuk sits back in the carriage, mindlessly caressing his son’s original rock.

‘I wish I could bring you back, buddy. I could really use the company on this long ride,’ he thinks.

Minhyuk thinks it might be a good idea to try and reanimate Rocky Jr again, now that he’s calmed down a bit since Sanha left.

He thinks of the happiness he felt when Sanha was around. Going through his memories helped a bit. He pours his magical energy into the little rock, still thinking of Sanha. He visualizes his son’s smiling face with his one shiny crystal tooth. He thinks something is happening. His birthmark is lighting up, he can feel it. However, nothing else happens. He sighs sadly, mumbling “I really thought it would work.”

He puts his son’s rock back safe in his pocket to try again another day.

**~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~**

“Junnie, have you signed up for the singles match this year?” Hyungwon asks, swiftly changing the topic from Myungjun and Jinwoo’s relationship to something the whole breakfast table could talk about.

Minhyuk makes a mental note to thank him later and just listens in on the conversation for now, “yeah, I signed up when the notice first came out. I’ve already decided to do all three,” Myungjun says excitedly.

Jinwoo’s eyes widened from surprise, “You have? I didn’t think you’d do all three. You only did one last year.”

Myungjun addresses his concerns, “last year, I was too worried about slipping and hurting people, but I feel perfectly fine now. I haven’t snapped since the battledome and I know Camellia will stop me if I do. Which leads me to my-”

“Me. I’ll be your partner.” Jinwoo says quickly, cutting off Myungjun before he can finish his thought.

Minhyuk sees the hesitance and discomfort in Myungjun’s gaze as he looks up at Jinwoo, “but JinJin, you’re a really good fighter and you go really well with Rocky. You two should team up again. You two won last year, and you can win again this time. This year is extra important in terms of impressing the spectators and being scouted,” Myungjun reasons.

“Exactly!” Jinwoo says, smiling. “I’ll be your partner and we’ll win together. Then we’ll impress everyone so much with our teamwork that they’ll all be begging us to join their guilds. Maybe the officials from the King’s court will ask us to work for him as well and we’ll live in the castle!” He says with childlike excitement.

Myungjun smiles, still seeming unsure about the whole thing, “are you sure JinJin? I don’t want to hold you back. I haven’t used one of the wooden poles in a long time either.”

“Of course I’m sure,” Jinwoo reassures him, “Stop discrediting yourself, Junnie. You’re an exceptional fighter too.”

Minhyuk watches silently as Jinwoo grabs Myungjun’s hands “also, the doubles aren’t limited to just the poles this year, either. It’s open to the use of all weaponry. Every one of them we’ve used so far this year in combat training.”

Minhyuk smirks at Myungjun’s dropped jaw, “even the metal ones?”

Jinwoo nods. “But JinJin that’s dangerous! The past two years we just had to get the other person knocked out or pinned to the floor. Using metal weapons can kill!”

Jinwoo tries to calm Myungjun down by giving his hands a squeeze and shushing him, saying “we’ll get revived, Junnie. They’re putting the same special enchants on the arena that’s in the dungeons and the battledome. It’s a fight to the death, but we’ll be fine. We’re used to dying now, right?”

Jinwoo chuckles a little at his own weak joke but Myungjun just shivers.

“Don’t worry Junnie, I won’t LET us die again. We’re going to win this, I promise.”

Minhyuk scoffs, “good luck with that because WE’RE planning to win too.”

He smiles happily at the thought of fighting side by side with Sanha, reaching for his hand at his side but Sanha pulls it away from Minhyuk’s reach with a scowl.

“I didn’t even agree to be your partner yet,” he huffs, crossing his arms.

“You will,” Minhyuk throws back. “You’ll accept because no one else wants to be your partner.”

Sanha pushes his half-eaten breakfast away and sits back to sulk.

Minhyuk’s attention is quickly stolen again by Myungjun, “Who wants to join me and JinJin for the battledome?”

Minhyuk thinks about it for a bit while others around them are giving their answers. It would be nice to fight with them again. It was fun last year.

“I’ll do it again,” he offered. “I liked fighting with you all last time, despite nearly losing my son.”

“Yeah, can we try to avoid the lava this time? I REALLY don’t want to go through that again, it was painful,” Rocky Jr. says from on top of the table in front of Minhyuk..

Jinwoo asks Sanha if he also wants to join their team again like last year. Minhyuk smiles softly at Sanha when he looks his way but Sanha shakes his head, “I don’t want to be on the same team as _him_. He’s mean and cocky and thinks I’ll jump at the chance to fight with him but I _won’t_. There’s your answer _Minhyuk._ I WON’T be your partner for the doubles. Find someone else.”

Minhyuk is stunned into silence as he watches Sanha get up and leave after his fit. He doesn’t even know what to say after that, he is so surprised.

Myungjun sighs, “go and apologize to him,” gesturing to where Sanha stormed off to.

“You really are quite mean to him, sometimes.”

‘I’d rather be mean to him than admit that I like him,’ Minhyuk thinks, blushing.

He swiftly scoops his son up off of the table and runs after Sanha to apologize.

*

“Ddana, wait!” Minhyuk shouts when he’s in earshot of Sanha.

Sanha turns to him angrily, hissing “what.”

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t be so mean to you all the time. It was wrong of me, I know,” Minhyuk apologizes.

Sanha gives him a blank look, “if this apology is just so I will be your partner, you can keep it. I don’t want it.”

Minhyuk stutters, “D-Ddana…”

Sanha huffs, turning away again, “Leave me alone, _Rocky._ And don’t call me that, either. If you thought we were friends, you were dead wrong.”

He walks away, leaving Minhyuk stunned once again with Rocky Jr whimpering quietly in his hands.

“Papa, what’s wrong with Ddana? He doesn’t seem like himself,” his son whines.

Minhyuk sighs, “I fucked up, buddy. This is all my fault.”

He gently rubs the top of Rocky Jr’s stony head with his thumb, consoling him as they leave to go to class.

*

Minhyuk is patiently waiting his turn to fight. He chose to sit in between Bin and his mother who came to watch him in his last year. She brought along Minseok so he can see what he’ll be doing starting next year.

Rocky Jr is sitting on top of his head so he can see what’s going on.

“I wanna watch Ddana when he goes down to fight,” he says to Minhyuk before they sit down.

Minhyuk smiles at his son and plops him on top of his hair until he has to leave.

Minhyuk gets a note a while later after a few groups have gone, including Myungjun and Jinwoo. It says he’s up next and should head to the waiting area.

He plucks Rocky Jr out of his hair and hands him over to his mother, “make sure he can see, okay? He isn’t that heavy, so maybe stick him on top of Minseokkie’s head,” Minhyuk chuckles.

“He wants to watch.”

She smiles at him, “Okay, Minhyukkie. I will. Good luck.”

He nods, waving goodbye to his son before he turns to head down.

**Rocky Jr**

Rocky Jr waves a stony fist at his papa, waiting patiently on his uncle Seokkie’s head for the fight to start.

“Park Minhyuk.”

“Yoon Sanha.”

He is surprised to hear Ddana’s name said along with his papa’s for this next battle, “Papa and Ddana are gonna fight each other? Uh oh, that’s not good. They still haven’t made up from earlier,” he worries.

The small rock is confused. He doesn’t know who to root for. He loves them both _so much_ and to see them fighting each other while Ddana’s still very upset is too much for him to handle. He decides he doesn’t want to watch so hides behind his stony little fists after they bow to each other.

He peeks over the top of them to see if they’ve moved at all yet, but they’re just standing there, staring at each other.

“Papa… Ddana… don’t hurt each other, please,” he mumbles through his fists.

He gasps seeing Sanha slap his papa _hard_ right as the horn blares. Then, he watches a few seconds of him trembling through his words.

‘Papa’s getting scared, I can feel it,’ he thinks.

Rocky Jr sees Zephyr shout something to the two of them which motivates them to both start fighting for real.

"Papa... be careful."

**Minhyuk**

As soon as Minhyuk looks up from bowing respectfully to Sanha, he notices something odd about the boy. His aura seems darker than usual, and eyes are completely pitch black, when normally his irises would be a nice, chocolatey brown.

“Ddana…” he says, trying to talk to him. Instead of a verbal response, he gets a slap to the face. The pain doesn’t surprise him. It’s more the fact that it was Sanha who was the one that did it.

Minhyuk slowly and carefully reaches up to his probably reddening cheek and hisses at the sting he feels when he touches it.

“Sanha… please. Let’s talk about this,” Minhyuk tries to reason.

“NO! Shut up Minhyuk! I don’t want to talk to you about anything! You have done nothing but tease me since we started school. I’m sick of it. I hate it. I hate you!” Sanha starts trembling, he’s so angry.

‘Something is definitely wrong with him. He would never say something like that’ Minhyuk thinks.

“Well, do something about it. Hit me until you feel better- until you feel like I got what I deserve.”

‘I don’t really want to fight him like this. He’s not himself.’

Zephyr yells at them to stop standing around and start fighting. Minhyuk lets Sanha move first, he hits him in the abdomen, then the leg. Minhyuk throws a few techniques himself but he’s holding back. He doesn’t really want to hurt Sanha like this. It wouldn't be fair. Minhyuk dodges a kick to his leg but forgets to block his face and a hard fist comes in quick right to his nose. The next thing Minhyuk knows, he’s on the floor.

**~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~**

Minhyuk sits up straight, surprised at what he remembers, in the back of the carriage, before slouching back down to think.

“His eyes… they were black then too. I thought I was imagining it when he left.”

He makes a mental note to research that topic as soon as he gets a chance. 

“What is going on with you, Ddana?” He rhetorically mumbles before the carriage takes off again.

**~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~**

After Sanha is declared the winner, he walks away still steaming and ignores everyone in his path. Minhyuk gets up off the floor and stumbles to where Jinwoo and Myungjun hyung are waiting. He falls right into Myungjun’s open arms, leaning all his weight on him. 

“I guess I deserved that,” he chuckles weakly, “Can you take me to the medical tent, Hyung? I think he broke my nose.”

Myungjun sighs after taking a quick look at Minhyuk’s nose, “I thought you apologized to him?”

To Minhyuk, it looks like Myungjun struggles a little at first while he’s trying to help him. Once he adjusts to the weight, he is able to lead him out of the arena and to the medical tent.

“I thought you’d be friends by now,” Myungjun says sadly.

“I’m not very good at apologies,” Minhyuk admits quietly, “I’m apparently not very good at making friends either.”

He sighs, looking down, “he hates me and I don’t know how to fix it. I don’t know why I’m mean to him half the time.”

“Maybe you should try speaking to him again, when he’s calmed down of course. You just have to be honest with yourself and your feelings, Rocky. We all know you don’t hate him, and we all know that Sanha doesn’t really hate you either.”

‘Be honest with my feelings?’ he thinks, ‘that’s easier said than done, hyung.’

He is quiet as Myungjun leads him into the medical tent and onto one of the chairs to wait. As Myungjun turns to leave, Minhyuk thanks him quietly and receives a small smile in return.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know it's a little late and this was a very... serious chapter, but Happy Birthday Minhyukkie!!!
> 
> I hope you all enjoyed. See you next time!


	11. Final Adventures in the Battledome

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Keep your eyes and ears open,” Jinwoo advises, “we don’t know what’s out there.”
> 
> ‘It’s too hard to figure out just standing around,’ Minhyuk thinks, listening to what Jinwoo says.
> 
> “Papa, you can use your magic here, remember?” his son says from his seat on his shoulder.
> 
> Minhyuk gasps, “Oh yeah! Hyungs, I have something that can help!”

After Myungjun leaves the tent, Minhyuk has a few moments to himself. Those don’t last very long however, because he hears his mother’s worried voice outside his tent just seconds later.

“Minhyukkie!” she shouts, barreling into the tent, “are you okay? What happened? Why didn’t you fight properly? I thought the whole reason you stayed over the summer was because you were good at physical combat.”

Minhyuk sighs, “can we please talk about this later, mother? I would like to get my nose fixed first.”

He watches her look him over again before nodding once. The healer walks over to them a few moments later, taking a look at his broken, swelling nose.

*

After the healer has done his job, Minhyuk turns to his mother, “Eomma.”

She looks his way, “Yes, Minhyukkie?”

“There are a few reasons why I didn’t go all out in my fight with Sanha back there,” he says, fiddling with his thumbs.

“Okay… I’m listening,” his mother says, encouraging him to go on.

“The first reason is because it seemed like there might have been something wrong with him. Like, he seemed ‘off’ somehow.”

“What do you mean?” his mother asked curiously.

“I’m not sure… maybe I was imagining it,” Minhyuk shrugs. He shakes his head, “anyway… the second reason I didn’t completely fight back is because…” he stops, not wanting to finish the sentence.

“Because?” His mother asks, “because you like him?”

He feels his ears and cheeks heat up as a wide grin appears on his mother’s face.

‘I honestly wish I didn’t. Please don’t tell anyone, Eomma?’ he thinks, sighing.

She smiles, gently this time, “I won’t say a word, Minhyukkie. I promise. I’ll let you figure things out on your own.”

She caresses his cheek and kisses his forehead, “I love you, my son.”

“Love you too, Eomma,” he says, wrapping his arms tightly around her in a hug.

Minhyuk’s moment with his mother is interrupted when he hears “Papa!”

Minhyuk looks outside the medical tent and sees his son waving frantically at him from his spot atop Minseok’s head.

He scoops him up into his arms when he leaves the tent, giving his brother a noogie, “hey, brat. How’s it been at home without me?”

Minseok scoffs, fixing his hair as they walk to get something to eat, “peaceful, Hyung, very peaceful.”

*

The group’s last time in the battledome is finally upon them. They’ve each wondered what would be different about this year, since none of them got any hints from their instructors or elemental leaders.

The team lands in the worst possible terrain when they first appear in the battledome (according to Myungjun and Minhyuk). Their magic is practically useless when they're surrounded by water.

It makes Minhyuk wonder what other teams they were stuck in the large, cold lake with.

“Guys, we have to move,” Myungjun says, pointing to another team off in the distance. Minhyuk looks to where he’s pointing, surprised at how quickly the other team seems to be approaching.

“They’ll be here in a few minutes, quicker if they have bows. How are we going to get across? How are _they_ getting across? Surely they can’t be a team of five water users. No team could be that stupid.”

‘How are we going to get out of this one?’ he thinks while Myungjun is spitting out question after question. He looks to Rocky Jr on his shoulder who blinks back at him, seeming just as perplexed as Minhyuk feels.

“I know how,” Hyungwon says, squinting into the distance. “Stand back,” he orders. He looks down at the tiny island they’re crammed together on and snorts, “okay, never mind. Jinwoo, keep your heat in.”

‘Well done, hyung. Good idea,’ Minhyuk thinks as Hyungwon uses his magic to form a thin ice bridge across the lake.

It was no easy feat crossing the lake. Soon after the group of five start their journey along the ice bridge, they hear a loud scream of “SIRENS!” come from across the lake. They look towards the source and see a boy being dragged underwater after a clawed hand grabs him by the ankle.

"Ah, crap."

*

Before the team even finishes crossing the lake, ten other teams are taken out either by magical creatures or by other teams. They’re now down to 26.

‘Yikes, this year, they are not holding back,’ Minhyuk thinks.

They soon approach the forest, and have no idea how many teams are in this area.

“Keep your eyes and ears open,” Jinwoo advises, “we don’t know what’s out there.”

‘It’s too hard to figure out just standing around,’ Minhyuk thinks, listening to what Jinwoo says.

“Papa, you can use your magic here, remember?” his son says from his seat on his shoulder.

Minhyuk gasps, “Oh yeah! Hyungs, I have something that can help!”

The four turn to watch as he bends down on one knee, placing his palms flat out against the forest floor. He closes his eyes to concentrate, tilting his head from side to side slowly, feeling for any movement.

“Vibrations coming from the left,” he says, “I can’t tell if it’s from humans or not but there are definitely a few different sources. There’s nothing to the right or in front of us,” he says, shaking his head. He opens his eyes, standing back up, grinning at the stunned looks on everyone else’s faces.

“I forgot I learned how to do that,” he admits, shrugging, “I’ll leave the decision making to you.”

*

After an eventful ambush in the forest, Myungjun makes a ladder out of his vines to get everyone up in the trees. This gives them time to heal and strategize. Myungjun has Jinwoo carefully dry his herb pouch before he hands everyone energy revive herbs.

“So, what now?” Minhyuk asks, leaning back against a tree branch, “I felt the ground before we climbed up the ladder and there were no vibrations around us anymore.” 

“How far can you sense them?” Myungjun asks, accepting his now dry herb pouch back from Jinwoo, “Thanks JinJin.”

“About half a mile right now,” he says, “So around ten minutes in each direction,” he explains.

Jinwoo thinks it over while Minhyuk chews on the herb Myungjun just handed him.

“Do you guys want to try something different? We’ve shown off enough skills now, I think. So, maybe we should focus on taking down as many people as we can. Which means…”

“No,” Hyungwon cuts him off after a weird grin appears on his face, “we’re not splitting up, Jinwoo. That’s a disaster waiting to happen. Most people travel in teams, we’ll be outnumbered.”

“Most people are probably dead,” Jinwoo reasons. He holds up his hand for everyone to see the number of teams left: **10.** “We still have ages until the end of the competition. If we don’t split up, we’ll struggle to find the others. This place is MASSIVE. We need to cover more ground if we want to win.”

“We’ll split up into two teams,” Jinwoo says, already having the whole thing planned out.

*

That’s how Minhyuk finds himself teamed up with Myungjun and Hoseok as they search for other teams. They only have about ten minutes left of the hour Jinwoo gave them to split up and all they found in their time were a few odd monsters that lived in the forest.

They made their way through the trees and have now come upon another owlbear, a creature with the body of a bear and the head of an owl. It isn’t really that menacing until it opens its beak and reveals rows of sharp, pointy teeth.

“Should we creep around it?” Minhyuk asks quietly, “It’ll take us longer than ten minutes to take it down.”

Myungjun nods, asking “any more vibrations?” as he looks to Minhyuk and then the ground.

Minhyuk kneels, touching the ground and a second later, he spins around, “behind us, a quarter of a mile away, approaching rapidly. They must have an air user who heard us talking. A ground user wouldn’t have sensed anything because we’re not moving. What should we do?”

“Uhhhh… guys? We alerted the bear,” Hoseok adds weakly as the creature roars behind them, making them all jump.

“I got this,” Minhyuk says quickly, “Hyungs, go hold that team off so I can use my magic here properly without accidentally swallowing you into the ground too. I’ll send the SOS to Jinwoo hyun too. Go!” He yells, shooing them off.

Minhyuk dug his hands into the ground, feeling the magic thrum through his fingers and ripped the ground apart with ease, trapping the owlbear in the canyon below. The next thing he does is send an SOS message to Jinwoo.

‘Hopefully Jinwoo hyung sees it in time,’ he thinks. He plucks Rocky Jr carefully from his perch atop his shoulder and places him in his shirt’s breast pocket before he takes off in the direction of the source of vibrations he felt earlier.

*

Minhyuk starts hearing voices the closer he gets to the source of the vibrations. He slows, listening to the familiar voices of his friends. ‘Bin hyung… and Dongmin hyung. Of course, those two are inseparable,’ he thinks.

‘I thought they had an air user on this team...’ he wonders briefly.

“NO!” He hears Sanha shout angrily, “They’re on the same team as Rocky. We CAN’T let them go. Rocky CAN’T win. I won’t allow it.” 

‘And _there’s_ the air user,’ Minhyuk mentally facepalms, ‘of course it had to be Sanha. And look at that, he still hates me. Oh, joy,’ he thinks sarcastically. 

Minhyuk slowly and quietly creeps up behind them so he doesn’t alert Sanha ahead of time. He gets closer and sees Sanha looks different than he did the last time they fought. He looks taller… almost like he grew overnight. He has Myungjun in a vice-like grip with one arm and something else in his other hand.

‘I gotta help Hyung… and Sanha,’ Minhyuk thinks, ‘He’s shaking, I can feel it through the vibrations in the ground as much as I can see it. He’s just as scared as he is angry.’

“Sanha?” The trembling boy freezes briefly, then spins around, dragging Myungjun with him. Minhyuk now sees that Sanha has his hand over Myungjun’s mouth, gagging him and a sharp dagger in his other hand pointed right at Myungjun’s neck.

“Sanha don’t do this,” Minhyuk says as he approaches the boy as calmly as he can. “It’s me you want, isn’t it?”

He watches carefully as Sanha’s grip on Myungjun loosens.

Minhyuk continues his pursuit, “Sanha, I know you’re angry with me. You’re not mad at Hyung, so let him go and I’ll let you kill me instead,” he compromises.

“You won’t!” Sanha spits venomously, retightening his grip on Myungjun and pushing the dagger further into his neck, “I’ll let him go and you’ll kill me anyway. You’re HORRIBLE to me, Rocky. I don’t trust you one bit.”

“Think about it, Sanha,” Minhyuk says desperately, taking another small step towards the two of them. “Think about what happened during the singles match. I let you hit me, didn’t I? I let you take all your anger out on me back there and told you to hit me until you felt better again. So I _will_ let you kill me if that’s what you need,” he says.

He sighs, ‘I’m still not getting through to him. Maybe a different approach is what I need.’

“I know I’m mean to you sometimes and I don’t have any excuses for that. I don’t know why I’m mean to you, or at least I didn’t know why until Myungjun hyung spoke to me. He told me to be honest with my feelings, and I want to be honest now.”

Minhyuk feels Rocky Jr poke his head out of his chest pocket, “please listen to him, Ddana.”

Minhyuk sees Sanha’s grip on Myungjun loosen slightly at the sight of his son, ‘good, this is working.’

“What are you talking about?” Sanha asks, “Tell me the truth for once, Rocky. I’m sick of you treating me this way. I know you don’t like me but-”

“I like you,” Minhyuk mumbles quietly, “I do like you, Sanha and I want to be friends with you. I thought I hated you, but I don’t. Rocky Jr kept telling me I didn’t hate you, but I never believed him.”

'Until recently, that is.'

Rocky Jr wiggles his way out of Minhyuk’s top at the sound of his name and Minhyuk grabs him and places him on the forest floor where he runs over to Sanha with his little legs, only stopping when he reaches his feet.

Minhyuk can feel the tension in the air as his son blinks up at Sanha. After a few more tense seconds, Sanha lets go of Myungjun completely and gently pushes him aside. He rests his dagger on the ground, picking up Rocky Jr instead.

“Ddana, I missed you. It was _really_ hard when you were mad at Papa but you’re okay now, right?” Rocky Jr asks.

Sanha pouts down at the little rock, “why is your father so useless?”

“Hey!” Minhyuk protests, laughing as he makes his way over to the two of them.

He looks up at Sanha, frowning, “why are you so tall now?”

Sanha shrugs, placing Rocky Jr back on his shoulder.

Minhyuk clears his throat nervously.

“So… can we be friends now?” he asks shyly when he realizes the only answer he may get from the other boy is a shrug.

“I’m not good at making friends, but-”

“Yes,” Sanha says quickly, turning away with a blush. “Let’s be friends.”

**~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~**

“You really saved the day back then, buddy,” Minhyuk mumbles, thinking of Rocky Jr. “Miss you.”


	12. Friends

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jinwoo’s eyes turn dark with rage soon after seeing Myungjun disappear. “Someone better tell me who did this to him or I will burn every last one of you to ashes.”
> 
> “Hyung, please don’t,” Minhyuk begs.
> 
> Jinwoo turns to him, suddenly aware that Sanha is still there with them. 
> 
> “You,” he growls, pointing a finger at Sanha. “Tell me. NOW!” 
> 
> “It was Binnie hyung! I swear!” Sanha cries out, terrified.

Things quickly turn south after Minhyuk and Sanha make up. Minhyuk hears a cry of agony and pain coming from Myungjun. Minhyuk looks over in horror at seeing Bin stabbing Myungjun from behind.

“Sorry Hyung, but Sanha let you go, making us even. You understand, right?” Bin says, ripping the sword free. Minhyuk sees Myungjun fall as blood flows out of his abdomen like a river.

Hoseok is the only one who snaps out of his shocked trance, “NO!” he shouts, racing over and dropping down in front of Myungjun. “Junnie? Junnie heal yourself!” He screams, desperately.

A loud smack echoes through the forest and Minhyuk snaps his head from Myungjun to where the sound came from. Minhyuk sees Dongmin with his hand raised in front of himself and his palm starting to redden, “Binnie, what the HELL! We let them go! Why did you do that?!”

Bin looks at him, wide-eyed as blood starts dripping down his chin. “You hit me?”

“You deserve more than that, you absolute JERK!” Dongmin rages, pushing him away. 

“That was cruel, Moon Bin. We don’t win by betraying our friends’ trust. I thought you were better than that,” he says, turning away and storming off through the trees with Bin following close behind shouting apologies.

*  
It didn’t get much better after that, since Jinwoo arrives just in time to watch Myungjun die...again. Minhyuk’s SOS worked, thank the deity. If only he could’ve gotten here sooner. Maybe if he did, Myungjun wouldn’t be like this.

“Sunshine?” Jinwoo asks. He kneels next to Myungjun, pulling things out of his medicine pouch and putting pressure on his wound to try and save him.

“What happened to him? Who did this to him? I’ll kill them, I’ll kill all of them,” he promises, ready for blood to be shed.

“JinJin?” Myungjun whispers weakly.

Jinwoo moves over to Myungjun so he can see him properly, “what is it Sunshine? Can you tell me how to help you?”

Myungjun shakes his head slowly, seemingly using the last of his energy to do so, “It’s okay JinJin. Make sure to win for us. I’m sorry I died. I’m sorry I can’t heal you. Take my pouch before I go, please.”

Jinwoo tries to convince Myungjun that he’s not dead yet but it’s no use. Minhyuk watches silently as Myungjun’s eyes flutter shut and he sinks into the ground.

Jinwoo’s eyes turn dark with rage soon after seeing Myungjun disappear. “Someone better tell me who did this to him or I will burn every last one of you to ashes.”

“Hyung, please don’t,” Minhyuk begs.

Jinwoo turns to him, suddenly aware that Sanha is still there with them. 

“You,” he growls, pointing a finger at Sanha. “Tell me. NOW!” 

“It was Binnie hyung! I swear!” Sanha cries out, terrified.

“Where did he go?” He hisses between grit teeth.

Sanha points in the direction Dongmin and Bin disappeared to and Jinwoo growls again, angrier.

Minhyuk reaches out to stop him, but he gets knocked out by an angry Jinwoo, who punches him straight in the nose without even thinking.

*

Minhyuk wakes up a while later to a throbbing nose.

‘Great, not this again,’ he thinks, rolling his eyes.

He whines quietly, “why is it always the nose?”

The nurse must’ve heard his little whine, because she walks by a few moments later.

She sighs, “Ahh, Mr Park. Welcome back. That was quite a heroic move, trying to stop your friend. It seems like you took quite the hit.”

Minhyuk winces as he tries to breathe through his nose, “hurts,” he mumbles.

“Don’t worry, the healer will be right with you and you’ll be good as new in no time,” the nurse says cheerfully, throwing a smile his way before running off to go check on other students.

*

The healer comes and goes, but not before he scolds him for breaking his nose again.

Minhyuk sits there guiltily for a few moments until the healer is finished with fixing his nose, ‘for the second time this week,’ he’s reminded.

A while later, the nurses say that another student arrives at the infirmary, unconscious. Minhyuk wanders out of his own private bed space to see Sanha sleeping peacefully next door with Rocky Jr’s rock clutched tightly in his hand. He smiles in relief, knowing he didn’t lose him again and pries Sanha’s fingers off of the small rock. He animates his son again, telling him “he’s our friend now buddy, so keep an eye on him, got it?”

Rocky Jr nods, whispering “yes, Papa. I’ll watch him, don’t worry.”

Minhyuk watches as he clumsily climbs his way up to his favorite spot in Sanha’s hair and snuggles down, happy to be close to his favorite person again (other than his papa, of course).

*

Minhyuk hears a groan from the next bed over and looks to see Myungjun waking up.

“Hey, hyung,” he says. “The competition is still going on, I think. Nobody else in here is from our team, so I’m assuming they’re still in it.”

“Wait, why are you here?” Myungjun asks, confused. “Did you get killed too? How are you awake before me?”

Minhyuk sighs, pointing over to where Sanha is sleeping, “Jinwoo hyung went on a rampage after you died and saw Sanha with us. He put the pieces together about what happened and threatened to kill him if he didn’t tell him where Bin hyung had gone. I knew Hyung wouldn’t really kill Sanha, but I tried to stop him anyway and he knocked me out. I only had to get my nose fixed, so that’s why I’m up earlier.

“Jinwoo knocked you out?” Myungjun asks, surprised. Minhyuk nods.

Myungjun sighs, sending him an apologetic smile, “Sorry Rocky. Jinwoo gets extra sensitive when I die now after what happened before. You know he’s probably stewing in regret right now. Please don’t be mad at him.”

Minhyuk laughs, “Yeah, I know. I’m not mad. I shouldn’t have approached Hyung when he was that angry. Everyone knows how temperamental fire magic makes a person and like you said, he’ll regret it anyway without me there to help our team win. I just wonder what happened to Sanha afterwards…”

“He saved me, Papa,” Rocky Jr says pointing a stony fist at Sanha.

“When did you get over here, Buddy? You wanna go back to Ddana?” He asks the small rock.

His son nods up at him, “please, Papa. I miss him.”

“I’m glad you two are friends now. You should’ve been friends a long time ago,” Myungjun says.

Minhyuk hums in agreement before picking up his son off the floor, and bringing him back over to Sanha’s bed. He places his son on the pillow behind his head and pulls the covers further up over Sanha’s chest to keep him warm.

“Wake up soon, you oversized baby. Rocky Jr misses you.”

*

Minhyuk is startled out of his sleep later that afternoon by his son shaking his leg, “Papa, papa, papa! Ddana’s finally waking up!”

“Wha?” he yawns, still half asleep himself.

Rocky Jr points at Sanha’s bed, Minhyuk shakes the sleepiness out of his brain while he’s walking over so he can focus on his friend.

“Morning, sunshine,” he teases the boy as soon as he opens his eyes.

Sanha groans, rolling over, “leave me alone, hyung.”

Minhyuk chuckles, “no. Now that we’re friends I’m never leaving you alone again.”

Sanha sits up and stares at him blankly, “but what about your classes?”

Minhyuk thinks, “... aside from the times when our classes are different, I’m never leaving you alone again. You’re stuck with me, Ddana, whether you like it or not.”

Rocky Jr nods along to what his father says as he’s sitting in Sanha’s hands, “yep, you’re stuck with us, Ddana.”

Minhyuk sees the smile that starts forming on Sanha’s face, as much as he tries to fight it.

“Hyung?” Sanha asks, shyly.

Minhyuk’s eyebrows raise and he smiles, silently telling Sanha to ask his question.

“Did you really mean what you said back there in the battledome?” Sanha asks, wringing the bedsheets nervously between his hands.

“Yes, I did, Sanha. I want to be your friend,” Minhyuk answers, grabbing Sanha’s hand with his own.

 ***** What happened after Jinwoo- Hyung knocked me out? Did he kill you too? ***** he thinks, looking at Sanha as his eyes widen in surprise.

Minhyuk breaks the connection, not realizing he made the connection with him in the first place.

Sanha nods anyway, sighing sadly, “I don’t think he did it on purpose but after I told him where Binnie hyung went, he engulfed himself in flames and took off after him, but not before he stabbed me with the dagger I almost used on Myungjun-hyung.”

“Oh, Sanha… I’m so sorry,” Minhyuk says, apologising for Jinwoo’s unacceptable behavior.

“It’s okay, hyung,” he shrugs. “I know he was upset at what happened, and I guess I deserved it after what we did to you guys.”

Minhyuk doesn’t think Sanha’s completely okay, but that’s a conversation for another day.

*

“Rocky?” Jinwoo asks, tapping Minhyuk’s hand.

Minhyuk looks up from his full dinner plate, surprised at the sound of Jinwoo’s nervous voice, but quickly settles into a gentle smile, “Yeah, hyung?”

“I… I’m sorry,” he says, awkwardly. “I shouldn’t have hit you. It was an awful thing to do and I feel really bad about it. It did backfire on me, anyway. I’ve given everyone such a bad impression of myself now, but it was my own fault.”

Minhyuk shakes his head, still smiling, “it’s fine Hyung. I accept your apology. You’ll be fine as well. You’ve achieved so much here; they won’t write you off as a bad person just because you lost your temper after seeing Myungjun hyung die.”

Jinwoo relaxes, sighing, “I hope not. Also, you’re awfully happy today. I know we won and all but… you look TOO happy,” he says, suspiciously.

Minhyuk feels himself flush, forcing the smile off of his face, “it’s nothing,” he mumbles.

Sanha, who was quiet this whole time finally speaks, offended, “it’s not nothing! We’re friends now, so you should be happy.”

Minhyuk pouts, feeling like he just got scolded like a dog before he goes back to eating his dinner.

*

Minhyuk is bouncing in his seat from excitement this morning. Last friday at the end of class, Mr. Ahn said that he would have a special announcement at the end of next class. Next class happens to be today, so Minhyuk can’t wait to hear what he has to say.

“Good morning everyone. Today is going to be a fun day. I’m going to teach you all how to manipulate metal, specifically Iron. Everyone come grab a small sheet of steel and we’ll get started,” he says, gesturing to the pile of metal sheets neatly stacked behind him.

*

“Well done today, class. I am impressed with your abilities to manipulate these steel sheets so they form different objects. I hope you didn’t forget I have an announcement for all of you,” Mr Ahn says, as students get ready to leave.

Minhyuk is so excited to hear the news, he can’t stop his leg from bouncing up and down under the table. Even Rocky Jr’s excited. He keeps running around in circles on the table top and Minhyuk is too full of excitement to stop him. 

“Starting this week,” Mr. Ahn begins, pacing in front of the class, “you, as earth elemental students focusing on ground manipulation, will learn how to manipulate magma with the fire elemental students. That is all; class dismissed. Everyone come take your parchment scrolls before you leave.”

Minhyuk gets up and joins the line of students that quickly starts forming in front of Mr Ahn’s desk. Once he gets to the front he looks for the scroll with his name on it, grabs it, and walks off to the side so he can read it.

IMPORTANT NOTICE- 3RD YEAR STUDENTS ONLY  
PARK MINHYUK: EARTH ELEMENTAL- GROUND VARIETY

I AM DELIGHTED TO ANNOUNCE THE BEGINNING OF YOUR MAGMA MANIPULATION LESSONS. ALL 3RD YEAR FIRE AND GROUND ELEMENTAL STUDENTS MUST PARTICIPATE IN THIS SPECIAL CLASS THAT WILL BE HELD THREE TIMES A WEEK FROM NOW UNTIL THE END OF THE YEAR. YOU WILL FIND YOUR NEW TIMETABLE ATTACHED TO THIS SCROLL.  
CLASS WILL BE TAKING PLACE UNDERNEATH THE ACADEMY, IN THE MAGMA CHAMBER BELOW THE FIRE USERS’ ACCOMMODATION. GROUND MANIPULATION STUDENTS ARE ADVISED TO TAKE EXTRA CAUTION DURING THIS LESSON AND BECAUSE OF THE DANGER TO LIFE THIS CLASS POSSESSES, ANY BEHAVIOR SHORT OF EXEMPLARY WILL RESULT IN YOUR IMMEDIATE DISMISSAL.  
YOU CAN ACCESS THE CORRIDOR TO THE MAGMA CHAMBER FROM OUTSIDE THE ACADEMY. IF YOU NEED DIRECTIONS, DO NOT FAIL TO ASK. YOUR FIRST CLASS IS TODAY AT 5PM. DO NOT BE LATE.

SIGNED  
BLAZE AND GROVE  
FIRE AND EARTH ELEMENTAL LEADERS

Minhyuk smiles wide, amazed that he gets to learn how to manipulate magma of all things and leaves class, heading to lunch with a skip in his step.


	13. Magma Manipulation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Uhhh, Sanha?” Minhyuk asks, timidly.
> 
> “What’s up, hyung?”
> 
> “I was wondering if I could ask a favor of you,” Minhyuk fiddles with his fingers nervously.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, a lot of things happened with this story today. I changed up the tags so I think they fit the story much better now because they were honestly a mess before.
> 
> I am also a big chemistry nerd so I had a TON of fun doing the research for and writing this chapter and I think it shows. I hope you all enjoy reading it just as much as I enjoyed putting it together. ^^

“Well someone’s extra happy today,” Bin teases, seeing Minhyuk’s bright smile from across the school grounds, “This can’t still be because of Sanha, can it?”

Minhyuk scowls at Bin, “shut up, Hyung. I don’t always smile because of Sanha.”

“Yes you do, Papa,” Rocky Jr giggles from his shoulder.

‘Hey! Quiet, you!’ he thinks. Rocky Jr continues giggling to himself anyway.

Bin laughs, “I don’t think Rocky Jr agrees with you,” he points to where his son is still giggling on his shoulder.

Minhyuk glares at Bin for a moment, before switching topics, “Anyway, take a look at this,” he hands him the scrolls he received that morning.

Moon Bin skims over the parchment quickly, “wow, way to go, Rocky! Magma manipulation. Sounds fun,” he says, impressed.

Minhyuk nods, walking happily with a bounce in his step.

“HYUNGS!” They hear a loud, squeaky voice yell. Minhyuk looks to see Sanha wave at them frantically before jogging to meet up with them.

“Sanha, hey,” Bin says, smiling, “Take a look at what Rocky got today,” he hands over the letter from Grove and Blaze for Sanha to read.

He reads it and hands it back to Minhyuk, smiling, “Congrats, Hyukkie! I wish I had a class like that,” he says.

Minhyuk and Bin snort, “what do you mean? You took flying classes last year, and aren’t you taking them again this year too?”

“Oh yeah,” Sanha says, giggling bashfully “I guess you’re right. I forgot.”

Minhyuk sighs, rolling his eyes at Sanha’s fish brain as Sanha hands the scroll back to him.

“This was given out to fire users too, right?”

Minhyuk nods, “I’ll be having class with Jinwoo hyung. I better go find him, actually. I want to go to class with him,” he smiles, determined to do just that when they get to lunch.

*

“Uhhh, Sanha?” Minhyuk asks, timidly.

“What’s up, hyung?”

“I was wondering if I could ask a favor of you,” Minhyuk fiddles with his fingers nervously.

Sanha shrugs, “sure. What is it?”

“Could you watch Rocky Jr while I go to Magma Manipulation? It’s very dangerous, like the letter said. I trust you to keep him with you while I’m gone.”

Sanha’s eyes turn owlish, “Me? You want me to watch him? A-are you sure?”

Minhyuk nods, “He’s so small now and we’re both still traumatized from what happened last year in the battledome. I _really_ don’t want that to happen to him... I don’t want to lose him again. Besides… you and I are friends now, right? Please, Ddana?”

Sanha visibly swallows and nods, holding out his hand, palm up.

Minhyuk turns to Rocky Jr on his shoulder, “Listen to me, buddy. You heard what I said to Ddana, right? I’m gonna leave you with him for a bit. I’ll be back for you later, okay?”

Rocky Jr hugs the side of Minhyuk’s face, “I’ll miss you Papa. Have fun in class.”

Minhyuk hands Rocky Jr over to Sanha, “He’ll deanimate while I’m not around but when I come to pick him back up later, I’ll reanimate him so he can say goodbye. See you later, Sanha,” he smiles, waving goodbye to his son before he follows Jinwoo to class.

*

Jinwoo takes Minhyuk to the secret, outdoor corridor Blaze and Grove mentioned in their letter earlier that day. As soon as Minhyuk starts descending the stairs in the corridor, the temperature increases about ten degrees every step he takes. His skin feels like it could melt off by the time he gets to the bottom.

‘How does Myungjun- hyung deal with this heat?’ he wonders.

They get to the end of the corridor and are met with a large, metal door. Jinwoo opens it and the two of them are immediately met with a rush of cool air.

Minhyuk sighs in relief, mumbling, “that’s better.”

Jinwoo chuckles, “You remind me of when Junnie first came down to my room. It takes a while to get used to the heat, I guess but you’ll get there eventually. Don’t worry, Rocky,” he pats Minhyuk on the back.

They look around the room, curiously. The first thing they notice about the room is that it’s MASSIVE. The area in the very front of the room is set up like an average science classroom, with a bunch of rows of tables with two chairs placed behind each table. Behind that, however, is a very large, very hot pool of magma. Minhyuk can see the heat rising off of the magma, it’s so hot. 

Minhyuk and Jinwoo move carefully around the lava pit, to get to the front of the room. They meet the eyes of their classmates and smile as they pass them by. The two of them sit together, near the front row since there is a table with two unoccupied seats. Once the room finally fills up completely, Minhyuk hears a familiar voice calling for everyone’s attention.

‘Grove? Blaze?’ Minhyuk thinks, wide-eyed, as he looks at the instructors for this course.

“Hello everyone,” Blaze says, looking across the room.

“Surprised?” Grove asks, rhetorically.

Minhyuk stares in shock as other students start whispering to each other, curious as to how the two elemental leaders came to be the instructors for this course.

“Settle down, everyone. We have a lot to discuss today,” Blaze says, trying to get everyone’s attention again.

“Remember, this is a very dangerous course, like we said in our letters, so if we have to dismiss some of you for your behavior we will not hesitate to do so,” Grove threatens.

This quiets everyone down immediately and the teachers share a look Minhyuk can completely understand from his own teaching experience.

“Now, let’s begin,” Blaze says, turning to write on the large teaching board behind him.

*

Minhyuk sends Sanha a note once his class is done:

**Ddana! Where are you? I’m done with my class now!**

He gets a message from Sanha a few moments later:

**I’m by the lake, Hyukkie >.<**

He sends an ‘OK’ back to Sanha and heads in the direction of the lake.

*

Minhyuk makes it to the lake in record time. He spots Sanha lying down in front of the lake with his hands in the grass behind his head. He looks very peaceful, almost too peaceful to want to disturb… almost. Minhyuk smiles at the thought.

‘Oh shit, Rocky Jr was right. I _do_ always smile because of Sanha,’ Minhyuk thinks.

When Minhyuk gets a little closer, he sees Sanha has Rocky Jr’s rock resting on his stomach and gets an idea.

‘I wonder if it will work from this far away.’

He focuses his magical energy on the small rock and prays to the deity that Rocky Jr reanimates, surprising Sanha.

He watches as his son takes shape. He motions for Rocky Jr to be quiet so he doesn’t disturb Sanha and Minhyuk sneaks up behind him. Rocky Jr silently agrees, and his plan is put into motion.

“Boo,” he says, right into Sanha’s ear.

“SHIT!” Sanha yells, jumping nearly a foot off the ground.

Rocky Jr tumbles off of Sanha’s stomach and into the grass, laughing hysterically and Minhyuk can’t help the laughter that bubbles out of himself at Sanha’s expense.

Sanha pouts cutely, crossing his arms over his chest and grumbling, “that was mean, Hyukkie.”

Minhyuk apologises to Sanha, “I’m sorry, Ddana, but you gave me the opportunity and I took it.”

Sanha grumbles again, incomprehensibly this time and Minhyuk sits down next to him, smiling wide.

Sanha glares playfully at Rocky Jr, “You were in on this too, little one?”

Rocky Jr nods back at Sanha.

“I feel betrayed,” he says dramatically, clutching his chest and falling back into the grass.

Minhyuk rolls his eyes at Sanha, but the smile never leaves his face.

“You’re in a really good mood today, Hyung.”

Minhyuk shrugs at Sanha’s observation, smiling while watching his son crawl clumsily into Sanha’s lap.

“Was it because of class? How did it go? Did you get to do any cool things with magma yet?”

Minhyuk chuckles at Sanha’s enthusiasm and thinks for a second, “It was… interesting, a little boring, because all we did was go over theory today, a little weird, and surprising.”

“Awww bummer,” Sanha says, disappointed, “but why was it both weird and surprising?” he asks curiously.

“Our instructors for this course are none other than Grove and Blaze. I didn’t think the elemental leaders taught any classes, but I guess they do,” Minhyuk says with a shrug.

“That’s pretty cool though.”

“Yeah, I guess it is. But it definitely makes you think twice about causing any trouble around school,” Minhyuk laughs. 

Sanha shrugs, “just be grateful you only have a month of this, Hyung. Then when we’re done here, you can cause all the trouble you want,” he giggles.

Minhyuk glares at him, “If anything, _I_ should be saying that to _you_ since you’re the baby in our group.”

“Uhhh… no,” Sanha points to where Rocky Jr is now snoozing in his lap, “he’s the baby.”

Minhyuk smiles fondly at the way Sanha strokes his stony face lightly, so he doesn’t wake him up. 

“We should probably get going,” he sighs, “it’s getting late.”

“Awww, but he’s so cute sleeping like this. I don’t wanna be the bad guy and wake him up,” Sanha whines quietly.

“It’s okay, I’ll do it. Let me just grab him,” Minhyuk says, scooping the sleeping rock off of Sanha’s lap.

This, in fact, does wake Rocky Jr up and he looks around, disoriented for a moment.

“NO! Papa, I wanted to stay with Ddana,” he pouts up at Minhyuk.

Minhyuk sighs, holding onto Rocky Jr tight as he tries to squirm out of his grip, “You’ll see Ddana again tomorrow, buddy. It’s time to go now.

Rocky Jr soon gives up, nodding sadly, “Can I say goodbye before we go? You said I could earlier.”

Minhyuk nods, putting his son down on the ground. He watches as Rocky Jr walks to Sanha and hugs his knee.

“Thank you for looking after me today, Ddana. You had me in your pocket at all times and were thinking about me all day, wondering if I could feel you petting me. Well, I could. Thanks for taking care of me. Love you.”

Minhyuk swears his face and ears are as red as a tomato by the time his son is finished speaking. He clears his throat awkwardly, willing the heat and redness to go away.

“Uhh. Rocky Jr says thanks for looking after him today. He said you had him in your pocket all day and that you were petting him every chance you got.”

Sanha blinks surprised, “he felt that?”

Minhyuk nods, calling to Rocky Jr, “come on, buddy. Let’s go.”

Rocky Jr looks to Minhyuk, then back to Sanha, “bye Ddana.”

He gives him one last hug before Minhyuk scoops him up again and takes him back to his dorm for the night.

*

A few days later, Minhyuk finds himself dropping off Rocky Jr with Sanha again before class. He places his son gently in Sanha’s hands after giving him one last hug before he has to go.

“Bye Papa! See you later,” Rocky Jr says once Minhyuk puts him down.

“Bye, buddy,” Minhyuk looks to Sanha, “I’ll send you a note again when my class is finished… like last time, okay?”

Sanha nods, “see you later, hyukkie.”

Minhyuk smiles, “Bye Sanha.” He turns away and wanders off to find Jinwoo so they can head to class again.

*****

“Hello again, everyone,” Blaze greets the group of students.

“Today, you will work in pairs, one person from each element, and will be applying techniques you’ve each already learned in your individual practical skills lessons here today,” Grove says, pacing the front of the room.

Minhyuk looks over at Jinwoo, silently asking him if they could pair up. Jinwoo nods, smiling.

*This should be fun, Rocky, like fighting together in the battledome last year,* Jinwoo’s voice rings through Minhyuk’s head.

*Exactly, Hyung* Minhyuk agrees.

“Everyone find your partner, then. You two will be working together for the remainder of the year, so make sure you like this person,” Blaze jokes.

“This first part, which probably will be the only thing we try to master today, you each will have to do on your own, unfortunately. Our apologies,” Grove says. 

Minhyuk hears a chorus of groans from the rest of the students in the room, but doesn’t join in. He doesn’t mind working solo at first if it will help perfect the end result.

“Now,” Grove continues, “the earth users will have to apply the technique they recently perfected, metal manipulation.”

‘Oh! This should be a piece of cake then,’ Minhyuk thinks.

“This will not be as easy as some of you may think,” Grove says, almost like he read Minhyuk’s mind.

‘Oh fuck,’ Minhyuk mentally slaps himself in the back of the head for that last thought.

“Since fire is a product of a chemical reaction that results in heat, or kinetic energy, the fire users will be practicing how to sense that energy and flow with it so they can eventually manipulate it to go any way they want it to,” Blaze explains.

Grove and Blaze split the class in half, Grove takes the earth users to one side, and Blaze takes the fire users to the other.

Minhyuk listens attentively as Grove explains, “the reason why I say this won’t be that easy is because the main element that’s abundant in magma is silicon. There are a lot of other elements too, like iron, and oxygen but silicon is the really big one. Silicon is a metalloid, meaning it’s not a metal like iron, sodium, or aluminum, but not a non-metal either, like oxygen or sulfur. It’s somewhere in between, like a lot of the elements on the table are. It has some of the properties of metals and some of the properties of nonmetals. If you can sense these metallic properties, then it will be easy to manipulate. Give it a try, but be careful by the pit. Remember, it’s nothing to fool around with.”

Minhyuk walks over to the pit, following the other earth users. He holds his hands out, palms open and down, facing the magma. He uses his magical energy to try and sense the silicon, like Grove said.

“That’s weird,” he thinks. “There are little, tiny crystals suspended in here.”

“Very good, Rocky.” Grove applauds, “That is the silicon you’re sensing.”

“The silicon and oxygen combine to form silica or quartz crystals, which get suspended in the hot magma.”

Minhyuk smiles proudly, and Grove lets him rest, satisfied with his ability to sense everything so quickly.

*

After the end of class, Minhyuk sends Sanha a note like he did last time:

**Ddanaaaa~! I’m finished with my class. Where are you?**

He waits a while before a note floats in front of his face:

**I’m in the library hyukkie. I have to study for a test T.T**

Minhyuk sighs, writing back to Sanha:

**Need help?**

He gets a note a few moments later:

**No, it’s okay. I could use the company though（＾ω＾）**

Minhyuk smiles at Sanha’s last note and makes his way to the library to find him.

**Author's Note:**

> Please let me know what you think! I'm super curious!!!


End file.
